Recent media reports about the marriage of a Japanese man named Akihiko Kondo to a virtual pop singer named Hatsune Miku raised many eyebrows. according to this the new York Times, Kondo is one of thousands of people in Japan who have married fictional characters in recent decades. Thousands more people around the world have joined online groups where they discuss their commitment to anime, manga and video game characters. There are also hotels in Tokyo that have special rates for those who want to spend a night with their beloved character.
Kondo, who recently opened up about her marriage, describes herself as a “phytosexual” person. ‘Fixtosexual’ is an umbrella term that refers to someone who is sexually attracted to a fictional character. A recently published paper in Frontiers in Psychology, titled ‘Fictosexuality, phyctoromance, and phyctophilia: A qualitative study of love and desire for fictional characters’ by Veli-Matti Karhulhati and Tanja Valisalo, states that fittosexuals are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. because most of them would consider themselves to be asexual as well. What could be some possible resonances of this new development?
One of the most pertinent questions for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is whether AI can ever replace humans in various intense human-human interactions. Can a human psychologist be replaced by an AI version? Can AI bots replace humans in end-of-life care services? Now with the emergence of hypothetical sexists, the answer to whether humans will ever be able to develop a deeper emotional connection with the machine has shifted from the ‘impossible’ to the ‘probably’. This is a pivotal moment for the future of AI. The rise of groups of people who choose to marry virtual individuals could open up many untapped opportunities for AI.
To answer the question of whether AI can ever replace humans in intense human-human interactions, one needs to understand why imaginary relationships with fictional characters are preferred. According to Kondo, his virtual wife Miku will always be there for him, will never betray him, and he will never have to see her sick or die. The fact that fictional characters are one-sided and incapable of rejection is an appealing choice for many individuals. For people who are afraid of being rejected by others, having a partner who can’t reject them can make them feel more confident and secure in their relationships.
Human beings exhibit many shortcomings in a typical human-human relationship. Many people would prefer to have a relationship without these drawbacks. A relationship with a fictional character seems to make up for the shortcomings of human relationships. Most of these gaps filled by fictional characters are emotional in nature. This is a clear indication that AI-enabled machines can also fill in the many deep emotional voids in human relationships. But this development is not going to happen easily. For that, the AI industry needs to learn a lot about emotions and how they actually affect human day-to-day decisions.
Although news about Kodo marrying a fictional character is very recent, and the term ‘phytosexual’ seems relatively new, the idea behind it is quite old. Humans have had an intense relationship with ‘imaginary’ characters for thousands of years. Religion has long been a part of people’s shared identity. It has shaped our lives, and in a way also made us feel who we are, thus helping to shape communities and even nations. At the core of every religion are concepts that are abstract, existing only within the realm of the beliefs of its adherents. For example, the concept of God is built on belief and not on concrete evidence. But different religions have helped his followers to create a strong image of divinity in their mind. But more than that, religions have helped create a deeper emotional connection between their followers and God.
Joseph Campbell’s 1949 classic book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, talks about the universal form of adventure and transformation that runs through almost all of the world’s mystic traditions. All religions have used surprisingly consistent statements of the basic truths of life and created various symbols and rituals. The AI industry has a lot to learn from religions. If the industry can learn the grammar of these religious symbols and rituals and incorporate them into the design of various AI products, it could move into a different class of engagement that offers a far stronger emotional connection with its end users. Is.
It was once believed that if the end user learned that the voice on the side of any conversation was not a human, but an AI-assisted machine, the emotional intensity of that conversation would decrease. The rise of fictional individuals is a reminder that human–AI interaction can be just as emotional as human–human. But for AI products to achieve deeper emotional connections with the end users, the development of AI products can never be left to engineers and technologists alone. AI development teams must include human behavior experts and designers. The time is not far when an AI product creates an emotional connection with its end user, which will play a bigger role in its success than the technology behind it. Overall, the emergence on a hypothetical populated planet is yet another step towards making AI less artificial and more human.
Biju Dominic is Chief Promoter, Fractal Analytics and President of FinalMile Consulting