An AI avatar generated on Replika mobile phone app and webpage are shown in this photo, in New York. Far from sending customers fleeing – or developers closing up shop – the attention given to artificial intelligence (AI) companions is almost certain to drive more business to these apps, sometimes hoovering reams of personal data out of users. — AP
Imagine all the joys of a bitter, public Hollywood divorce spiced up with the personal data version of revenge porn, all under the control of a smartphone variation of HAL from 2001 Space Odyssey.
In a nutshell, that’s the run-don’t-walk warning that the technology nonprofit Mozilla Foundation published on Jan 15, reviewing 11 intimate chatbots attracting growing numbers of smitten human users.
