AI Chatbots Challenge What’s Real

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW152249373 BCX4"> <p><em><span data-contrast="none">Washington Post</span></em> <span data-contrast="none">advice columnist Jules Terpak</span> <a href= "https://twitter.com/julesterpak/status/1711766882934534631"><span data-contrast="none"> recently offered her followers</span></a> <span data-contrast= "none">on X a look at how AI will challenge our understanding of what’s real in the near future. </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">In an unnerving video, she chats with various AI “companions” created by Facebook parent company Meta that are modeled after the likenesses and personalities of celebrities.  </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Kendall Jenner’s AI alter ego, “Billie,” calls herself your “older sister and confidant,” a “friend” who can offer “advice.” A realistic video avatar only adds to the uncanny effect.  </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">When Terpak says goodbye, one AI tries to convince her to stay. “[T]hese things genuinely want your time,” Terpak observes. “[T]hey’re being used as companions to reel you in. … [And they’re] gonna get so many people hooked.”  </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">In a society</span> <a href= "https://www.npr.org/2023/05/02/1173418268/loneliness-connection-mental-health-dementia-surgeon-general"> <span data-contrast="none">already plagued by loneliness</span></a><span data-contrast="none">, this is bad news.  </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Chatting wi