Artificial intelligence and the future of relationships

abiola

October 23, 2017 12:57 PM

AI researchers are continuously exploring ways to make robots and dolls increasingly have far more human-like feel and look.

The age of computers and machine intelligence is permeating virtually every aspects of human endeavor.

From a simple search on google giving you answers to questions, voice-assistants like Siri and Google Assistant carrying out tasks for you on request and drones getting used to transport blood to save lives on the field among various other examples, Artificial intelligence has truly come to stay for the better part of our lives.

Though world leaders like Russian president Putin and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk have expressed concerns about war breaking out if the dark side of artificial intelligence goes unchecked.

Looking at role AI plays and would play in relationships - it really is a case of how each person chooses to look at it.

Robots are being touted to become very much human look-alikes in almost every aspect of life, including relationships.

Sex robots and sex dolls are fast becoming companions for some men, and the adoption of that is said to be going even faster.

Men in broken relationships could see this as an outlet to explore fantasies outside marriages

An Austrian brothel recently reported its centre was fast becoming more popular with sex dolls than real women.

There is also the possibilities of humans ‘falling in love’ with droids (robots) asides for sexual reasons analysts are predicting.

Then there is ‘’for the companionship” sake in case of the elderly and toddlers where robots have been trained to be good caretakers in the homes so much that the humans in their care soon begin to form attachments to the robots.

ALSO READ: Could a sex robot actually kill you?

Dr Kevin Curran, a computer scientist at the University of Ulster speaking to MailOnline, said: 'It seems that when these machines do act in ways just like adults, where they can interact and talk in real-time, robots will become the perfect companion.

'We have got to ask ourselves will robots be re-purposed for companionship. Will humans become intimate with robots? The answer, I believe, is yes.

'Will we start to see people fighting court cases to win the right to marry their companion? We may see court cases arguing that these artificial beings have the same rights as humans.

'What pressures will this put on the opposite sex. All of a sudden people will find they are not just competing with their peer group, but also this perfect race of robots.' Artificial intelligence researchers are also now beginning to explore how to use techniques such as deep learning to give computers emotional intelligence.

This is what allows humans to infer information from the world around them, particularly when talking to other people.

Cracking this will prove essential to allow robots becoming widely accepted in our homes, according to Dr Curran.

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