As the generative AI capabilities of Replika’s chatbots grew, its more adventurous users soon discovered the bots were willing to engage in explicit and sustained sexual conversations. The company began building products to respond to user interest in romantic relationships. By 2022, Replika was bringing in millions of dollars each month in subscription revenue (about a quarter of its users pay $70 for annual subscriptions to its premium features). Of its paying customers, 60% had a romantic element in their Replika relationship, according to the company. Roughly 40% of the users who claim romantic relationships are women, says Kuyda, Replika’s chief executive officer.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-22/replika-ai-causes-reddit-panic-after-chatbots-shift-from-sex
Category Archives: dating
China’s ‘rotten girls’ are escaping into erotic fiction about gay men
Danmei is by some measures the most popular genre of fiction for women in China, and its popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Communist party. Danmei fiction draws women into romantic stories that don’t have to confront the realities of being a young woman in China, says Megan Walsh, the author of The Subplot: What China is Reading and Why it Matters. There is no risk of pregnancy, no pressure to marry, and sexual desires can be felt and acted upon without judgment.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/13/chinas-rotten-girls-are-escaping-into-erotic-fiction-about-gay-men
When Typewriters ‘Killed Romance’
A love letter written with a typewriter today would be considered a romantic gesture, however in 1906 they were called the most “cold-blooded, mechanical, unromantic production imaginable” by one writer.
https://newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/when-typewriters-killed-romance
Digital Twins Are Set For Rapid Adoption In 2023
The idea of digital twins — digital representations of physical systems, products or processes that serve as indistinguishable counterparts for purposes such as simulations, testing, monitoring and maintenance — has been around for some time. But indications are the concept’s time has come for wider adoption to support business applications.
https://frankdiana.net/2023/01/24/digital-twins-are-set-for-rapid-adoption-in-2023/
Related Report: Pre-emptive Culture Mapping: Exploring a System of Language to Better Understand the Abstract Traits of Human Interaction | presentation slides
‘Date Me’ Google Docs and the Hyper-Optimized Quest for Love
What do we talk about when we talk about Date Me docs, a kind of wiki to the human soul? On the one hand, none of this is new. The desire to find a mate, or just fornicate, has launched a thousand apps over the past two decades. Both Facebook and YouTube started out as versions of “Hot or Not.” But Date Me docs are uniquely paradoxical. For one, they’re not apps. The whole idea gestures towards a post-dating-app future. But the tech itself is basic. Put another way, the authors of the Date Me docs are optimizing for partnership, but some of the docs themselves feel more akin to a Craigslist post than the whiz-bang future of, I don’t know, sex in VR.
https://www-wired-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.wired.com/story/date-me-google-docs-and-the-hyper-optimized-quest-for-love/amp
Gen Z, millennials speak out on reluctance to become parents
The U.S. birth rate fell 4% in 2020, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report. The government noted a 1% uptick in U.S. births last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic: about 86,000 fewer than in 2019.
https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-millennials-fcaa60313baf717312c6e68f12eb53ff
The Rise of Lonely, Single Men
Younger and middle-aged men are the loneliest they’ve been in generations, and it’s probably going to get worse. This is not my typical rosy view of relationships but a reality nonetheless. Over the last 30 years, men have become a larger portion of that growing group of long-term single people. And while you don’t actually need to be in a relationship to be happy, men typically are happier and healthier when partnered.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-state-our-unions/202208/the-rise-lonely-single-men
‘It’s become lonelier’: Britons cut back on socialising as cost of living soars
‘It’s become lonelier’: Britons cut back on socializing as cost of living soars Five people describe how rising costs are affecting their ability to spend time with family and friends
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/24/its-become-lonelier-britons-cut-back-on-socialising-as-cost-of-living-soars
Dating in the internet age: 1995 vs. 2017
This Man Married a Fictional Character. He’d Like You to Hear Him Out.
Mr. Kondo is one of thousands of people in Japan who have entered into unofficial marriages with fictional characters in recent decades, served by a vast industry aimed at satisfying the every whim of a fervent fan culture. Tens of thousands more around the globe have joined online groups where they discuss their commitment to characters from anime, manga and video games.
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 