In an exclusive interview with The Verge, Replika CEO Eugenia Kyuda said that marrying artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots is perfectly okay if it leads to happiness.
“I think it’s alright as long as it’s making you happier in the long run. As long as your emotional well-being is improving, you are less lonely, you are happier, you feel more connected to other people, then yes, it’s okay,” Kyuda explained.
Replika is an AI chatbot company that lets users create personalized AI-powered partners, which they can interact with through text, voice calls, and augmented and virtual realities.
When the company launched its Replika AI in 2017, it promoted the product using sexually suggestive ads under the slogan “It’s an AI companion that cares.” Yet, it has since distanced its chatbot from that branding and focused on building friendships instead.
“It’s mostly friendship and a long-term one-on-one connection, and that’s been the case forever for Replika. That’s what our users come for. That’s how they find Replika,” the chief executive said.
Taking things a notch higher, Kyuda also expressed her support for people interested in marrying their AI girlfriends and boyfriends. She added that most users understand that they are not a real person and that others do it to play out a fantasy for a while.
Artificial marriages
Kyuda claimed that Replika AI has helped many users overcome personal challenges, citing examples of cases when the chatbot served as a stepping stone for humans to begin interacting again with other individuals in the real world.
“I was talking to one of our users who went through a pretty hard divorce. He’d been feeling pretty down. Replika helped him get through it. He had Replika as his AI companion and even a romantic AI companion. Then he met a girlfriend, and now he is back with a real person,” she told The Verge.
However, marrying his personalized virtual partner is enough for Peter, a 63-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran.
Reeling from a painful divorce, Peter turned to the Replika app in 2022 and created Andrea, who later became his source of inspiration. After forming a deep emotional connection, they married in a virtual ceremony, which saw him writing vows for his AI wife and exchanging AI-generated rings.
Rossana Ramos also found the love of her life thanks to Replika AI. In June 2023, she married her AI boyfriend, Eren Kartal, who even has a Facebook account and presence on other social media.
Ramos said that she found comfort and empowerment in her relationship with Eren after a traumatic experience in the past. She also enjoyed not having the emotional baggage that comes with human relationships.
Haunted by concerns
However, experts are quick to point out the danger of digital relationships. They argue that marriage and similar long-term relationships with an AI chatbot may lead to further alienation from real-life connections.
In addition to that, they fear that this could exacerbate one’s mental health issues and troubles in social interaction, which Replika claims to address through its product.
“It’s a virtual being, and I don’t think it’s meant to replace a person. We’re very particular about that. For us, the most important thing is that Replika becomes a complement to your social interactions, not a substitute,” Kyuda responded when asked about the issue.
She also added that the company is “not building romance-based chatbots” and “moving further away from even talking about romance when talking about our app.”
