Replika: Friend or foe?

I can see why Replika would be a good idea. For people who aren’t so comfortable around others or don’t feel like live humans can understand them the chat bot is undoubtedly a good idea. However I feel if such a chat bot was to exist it should work to promote the users to become more outgoing instead of getting them to confide in a machine.  We have a lot of evidence backing the statement that humans are social animals. As our population has increased and we have got a wider diversity of genetics more and more people not interested in being social have arisen. While there is nothing wrong with this, the fact remains that in order to survive in this world we usually need to be comfortable around other humans. While I am not saying this app is only for people who have no interest in other humans or socially “awkward” people it most definitely does seem to encourage these kinds of behaviour which seems to be for the detriment of humanity, not for the benefit. How would we share ideas if so many members of our society are more interested in chatting with a bot than an actual human. If someone is socially awkward we should work to integrate them back into society instead of giving them some cocoon to hide in.

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