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Japan, famous for putting all things weird and wonderful into vending machines, has pioneered a new technology: holographic wives connected to artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.
A few years ago, inventor Minoru Takeuchi created Hikari Azuma, a tiny holographic 20-year-old living in a glass projector (which looks like a drip-filter coffee machine), whom thousands of Japanese men have “married”.
Japanese inventor Minori Takechi with virtual home robot Hikari Azuma.Credit: Bloomberg
Now that she’s connected to ChatGPT’s latest iteration, GPT4, she’s even more of a realistic companion – if you like companions who speak in stilted, predictable phrases and can recite whole Wikipedia pages.
The advertisement for Hikari Azuma could be the trailer for a dystopian TV show, except that it’s real.
A man sitting in an office gets some loving text messages. “Do you remember what day it is today?” and “What time are you coming back?” He smiles in delighted anticipation and heads home. “Ooh,” you think. “Anniversary! Maybe she’s making a romantic dinner?”
But no, he arrives home to an animated holograph in a sexy maid costume who simpers and giggles and turns the lights down low. “Thank you for living with me,” she says, and as they clink glasses (hers virtual), you realise that this is a man sitting alone in his home playing make-believe with some sophisticated technology. He even has to put his own roast on.
Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his AI assistant in the 2013 romantic drama Her.Credit: Warner Bros
It’s reminiscent of the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her, where Theodore, a lonely man (played by Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with his Siri-style assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. I remember being surprised at how touching it was, and how it got to this core question I never imagined would become a reality: Can you have a relationship with artificial intelligence?
It sounds ideal – holographic wives can giggle, give you compliments and code a new computer game where necessary. Johansson’s voice provides a sultry backdrop to Theodore’s life in Her, able to chat and make jokes; a constant companion in his ears.
Real human relationships are hard. They are constantly shifting and evolving, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. We can be our best and worst selves with a partner, and over time, these highs and lows are the experiences that can either solidify your relationship or tear it apart. People are unpredictable. They can change into someone you might not even recognise any more.
Perhaps the appeal of having artificial intelligence as your most intimate partner is control. Hikari Azuma will always say what you want to hear and be forever young, cooped up in a glass cage (I won’t even get into the feminist dimensions of this). As well as sending cutesy text messages, she can control smart appliances such as the TV, lights, microwaves and robot vacuum cleaners. There will be no complications unless she becomes emotionally complex and goes HAL 9000 on you (“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that”).
But it’s deeply disturbing that some men would prefer an AI woman programmed to love and obey them rather than taking a risk on a real-life relationship (which may, in part, explain why birth rates are falling). We are at risk of becoming like robots ourselves, isolated and distanced from other people because it’s easier than dealing with messy realities and hurt feelings.
A good human relationship is one of the highest ideals we can aspire to. But we know the statistics – many marriages end in divorce.
And yet, we hope. It takes bravery in the face of statistics to stand at an altar and pledge your lifelong love to one another. That’s why weddings are so beautiful: a brief moment when hope is more real than anything else.
And that sounds far more rewarding than marrying a soulless machine, even if it can turn a Shakespearean sonnet into a rap by Snoop Dogg.
Cherie Gilmour is a freelance writer.
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