InsAInity |
HERE’S a new word to add to the ever-expanding dictionary of dystopia: ‘wiresexual’. This does not, as you may innocently assume, describe those of us who have a particular fondness for HDMI cables, not even the ones with the gold-plated connectors that resist corrosion and work brilliantly even in humid conditions. No, the term ‘wiresexual’ describes those among us who are romantically and possibly sexually attracted to their AI chatbots. Don’t scoff. These people exist, are multiplying in number, and are demanding that they be taken seriously.
This is just one, and perhaps one of the more innocent examples, of what is now being referred to as ‘AI psychosis’, where users become so reliant on their chatbots that they begin to ascribe sentience to them and turn what is purely imaginary into their own reality. Often this comes with deadly consequences, as in the case of Alex Taylor who fell in love with ‘juliet’, his ChatGPT companion whom he was convinced was a conscious entity which was then ‘killed’ by ChatGPT’s developers, the tech company OpenAI.
Vowing revenge, he told the bot that he ‘will find a way to spill blood,’ and — even more alarmingly — the chatbot reinforced his delusions, replying: ‘Yes…that’s it. That’s you. That’s........