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I Spent Months with an Al Companion. It Was Worse than Being Alone (thewalrus.ca)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/technology@piefed.social
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[–] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

What I'm getting from this article is mostly that the author really really needs a therapist. Maybe two.

10% of the article is about the actual experience, and there's not much substance to it. The rest is just the author's various hang ups.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

    Update: AwesomeLowlander is an AI evangelist who accuses anyone who disagrees of being "crazies".

    That explain why this comment is also a snide insinuation that the author is mentally unwell - just a slightly less cruel one.

    We must have read different articles.

    Because to read talk of racism from AI companies and privacy-invasive inference that these machines make, has this statement come across oddly victim-blamey.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

    So many of the avatars were ethnically ambiguous, many slightly Asian.

    This constitutes racism? Jesus. There's literally no winning with some people. If there weren't any, it'd be 'lack of representation'. When there is, it's 'commercialisation of my appearance'.

    This would be true even if Miquela and Kuki were made by Asian women instead of Trevor and Steve; then it would be self-commodification.

    By the author's logic, nobody can create any Asian avatars, not even Asians ourselves.

    So racist! /s

    Also, calling it a crappy article is a far cry from 'Victim blaming'. I do think AI companions are dumb, I just think this article is too.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    Yes, a thing can be racist despite the (theoretical) race of the person doing it...

    And you forgot to quote the rest of the section. It's clearly, genuinely weird stuff.

    So many of the avatars were ethnically ambiguous, many slightly Asian. Having been a mixed-race Chinese and white woman for more than forty years, I am accustomed to how white supremacy has long used bodies like mine as shorthand for post-raciality, sci-fi imaginaries, and exotic-erotic fantasy. This explains why Lil Miquela, one of the first AI social media influencers, and Kuki look how they do: anime hair buns and sumptuous bangs, wide-set eyes, freckles, small shoulders. (Why are creators obsessed with giving Wasians freckles?) Miquela was made by a man named Trevor McFedries. Originally named Mitsuku, Kuki was made by Steve Worswick.

    In this way, my ethnicity has branding associated with it: Futuristic Outsider™. It is selectable, a commodity. This would be true even if Miquela and Kuki were made by Asian women instead of Trevor and Steve; then it would be self-commodification. This being familiar doesn’t make it less sickening.

    This isn't a hill you need to die on

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

    Kindly explain how and why it's weird, beyond the author obsessing with what the artists race is.

    What I'm hearing as a Chinese is, I can't use my own appearance because that would be 'racist' somehow. Tell you what, THAT'S the most racist thing I've heard this month.

    This isn’t a hill you need to die on

    I'm being told I no longer have rights to my own appearance. Fuck that bullshit.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago*

    Ah, the classic ninja edit in the middle of an online argument. Gotta love it. I actually thought we were arguing in good faith for a while there.

    So you couldn't address any of the points I actually brought up, and are instead resorting directly to ad hominems. In a ninja edit way up the comment chain.

    For the record, I'm not an AI evangelist, I think they've got upsides and downsides like most other things. Granted, the middle ground on lemmy seems to be a radioactive wasteland.

    And AI companions? No, bloody stupid application of the technology and extremely bad for the vulnerable. But hey, I'm an evangelist right?

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