People Are Going to Fall in Love With the Flirty GPT-4 Omni

OpenAI Related ContentWhy is Everyone Suing AI Companies? | Future Tech CCShare SubtitlesOffEnglishRelated ContentWhy is Everyone Suing AI Companies? | Future Tech CCShare SubtitlesOffEnglishThe OpenAI staff noted how this technology was just like the movie Her. Sam Altman tweeted the word “her” right after the launch. Another OpenAI staff member who works on “Audio AGI research” has a picture from the movie in his bio. Make no mistake, this was the goal. As often happens in tech, however, hot companies like OpenAI move fast and amaze us with technology without considering the repercussions.AdvertisementAs we saw in the movie Her, Joaquin Phoenix’s character slowly fell in love with an AI companion voiced by Scarlett Johansson. It’s impossible to not notice the similarities between Johansson’s voice and the one that OpenAI debuted on Monday morning. At one point, GPT-4o laughed at a joke an OpenAI staffer made. At another, GPT-4o said, “That’s so sweet of you.” I’m willing to bet a lot of people out there don’t have someone in their life who says either of those things. I’d also bet a lot of them would jump at the chance to have at least a single voice that does so—artificial or not.Companionship is a somewhat obvious use case for a chatbot. But real-time voice conversations offer more intimacy than text on a screen. The near-zero latency makes talking feel natural, like a long-distance relationship whenever you want it.AdvertisementThe emotional nature of GPT-4o makes the AI chatbot much more personal than Siri ever was. Siri felt like talking to a robot, but these demos made clear that GPT-4o has artificial emotional intelligence, able to identify your feelings and match your energy. This makes GPT-4o feel like a true companion, adding a touch of humanity to your smartphone’s operating system.We’ve already seen a community meltdown when Replika issued an update to its much more primitive chatbot in 2023 that many users felt was like losing a friend. AdvertisementBut there’s one human emotion GPT-4o lacks: frustration. The OpenAI staff showed how GPT-4o doesn’t mind being interrupted, a very real complaint actual women have with male partners. This shows how some men who are incapable of holding a meaningful relationship with a woman might turn to an AI chatbot like this. This could offer lonely individuals a meaningful connection. But it also could make it that much easier for people to never attempt the growth necessary to try at the real thing. GPT-4o could make our devices even more tantalizing than the human connections many of us already lack, just as a matter of convenience.I’d be remiss to not express concern about a technology like this. Humans report increasing levels of loneliness in the 21st century. One in three Americans feels lonely every week. While companionship may not be the main thing OpenAI is selling with GPT-4o, that might be what people grab onto most.AdvertisementThis is not the first time our devices have offered companionship, while in reality, further isolating us from each other. Social media capitalized on the innate human desire for connection, but that turned out to be a great illusion. Low-stakes human connection from behind the screen often doesn’t really work out and just as often pits us against each other. AI companions like GPT-4o take this phenomenon one step further, completely removing the human from the equation.There’s been a lot of fearmongering around generative AI, but this one has flown under the radar. OpenAI’s demo marked the arrival of a newfound technology, and potentially, a new societal problem we’ll be grappling with for decades. The worst side effect I’ve seen from technology in my lifetime is its ability to isolate humans from each other. GPT-4o just made that isolation that much easier.

Based on reporting by gizmodo.com.