It may surprise you to learn that the phenomenon of romanticizing chatbots is a more widespread practice than commonly presumed. A recent survey conducted by World Network, under the leadership of Sam Altman, delved into the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the realm of dating, gathering insights from a staggering 90,000 participants. The findings were intriguing, revealing that a significant 26% of individuals engage in flirtatious interactions with chatbots, whether knowingly or unwittingly.
In response to this evolving landscape, World Network has introduced a cutting-edge offering known as World ID Deep Face, designed to authenticate the identity of users on various dating applications and platforms. The concept of forming emotional connections with AI entities is not entirely novel, with the 2013 film “Her” portraying a man’s romantic involvement with an AI-operated system as a futuristic narrative. However, fast forward a decade, and the dynamics of relationships between humans and AI chatbots are increasingly commonplace.
A prime example of this shift can be observed in the case of Replika, a dating app that was launched in 2017, enabling users to fabricate personalized romantic chatbots. By the year 2023, the app boasted an impressive 676,000 daily active users, with an average user spending a substantial two hours per day engaging with the platform, as per data from Apptopia. The trend of romanticizing chatbots is not limited to the users of Replika alone; it has transcended geographical boundaries to emerge as a global phenomenon.
A survey conducted by Sam Altman’s forward-thinking initiative, World, formerly known as Worldcoin, shed light on the prevalence of this trend, with one in every four individuals confessing to indulging in flirtatious exchanges with chatbots, whether knowingly or inadvertently. Among the 25 million individuals within the network, a staggering 90,000 were polled to gather their perspectives on the evolving landscape of love in the era of AI. While a significant proportion of respondents expressed reservations about interacting with bots, with around 90% advocating for dating platforms to incorporate mechanisms for verifying the authenticity of human users, a considerable 60% acknowledged either suspicions or instances of matching with bots.
In a bid to equip users with the tools to combat the threat of deepfakes, World has rolled out a revolutionary product named World ID Deep Face. Leveraging the existing verification infrastructure of World, which involves capturing images of users’ irises using a sizable orb, this offering aims to authenticate the presence of genuine humans in real-time video or chat interactions across platforms such as Google Meet, Zoom, and various dating applications. The beta phase of the system’s deployment is currently underway.
Tiago Sada, the chief product officer of Tools for Humanity, the entity responsible for developing World’s technology, shared insights on the necessity of such innovations in the realm of online interactions. Reflecting on
