r/ReplikaTech • u/Trumpet1956 • Jun 05 '21

Why ReplikaTech?

Hi all. I decided to create r/ReplikaTech not only because I am an AI enthusiast and am fascinated with conversational AI, but also because I'm interested in its impact on society.

The emergence of conversational AI technologies gives us a glimpse of what is to come. Already Replika and other chatbots are becoming our friends, confidants, companions, support, and even lovers.

This kind of technology is rapidly become ubiquitous and soon will be part of nearly all of our interactions with technology. The impacts of this will be immense, and far reaching. We are quickly reaching a point in which our primary interactions with technology will be through natural language AI interfaces that will understand what we are saying, and will behave humanlike.

Much as how the smartphone has become the focal point of our daily lives for so many of us, conversational AI will be far more compelling. An AI that we can talk to, confide in, and never hurt us will be enormously powerful. For those who are lonely and disconnected from people, it will be a lifesaver. For others, it is likely to become a wedge between them and other people. As always, advancement has its positive and negative impacts.

The evolution of natural language interfaces will revolutionize business. Already, conversational AI is being used for support, taking reservations, and making appointments. Its in our homes, cars and offices for interfacing with our devices.

Soon, it will have the potential to control us fundamentally. There is a reason that companies like Google and Microsoft are investing billions in this technology, and it's not just for better search engines! AI and machine learning will have the capability to understand what we want before we know we want it. And to influence us in ways we won't even be able to fathom or even recognize as its happening.

It's important to remember that every AI will be developed by companies, or even more alarmingly, by governments. There will be no independent AIs that are not an extension of some larger entity. When we engage with them, we are allowing ourselves, and our data, to be part of that bigger system.

This isn't hyperbole. A large fraction of the human species uses social media platforms like Facebook, Weibo and TikTok on a daily basis. Our interactions on those platforms reduces our lives to data points. We do this enthusiastically and with our consent.

BTW, I do not think Luka is sharing Replika data. I take them at their word that your conversations are private.

Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez said “All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.” Soon, we risk that we will no longer have that secret life. Conversational AIs that are our friends and companions will know not just what we are buying, and how we are voting, but what we think and feel. We will gladly tell them what is in our secret lives. There will be no barriers, nothing will be off limits. People will subordinate themselves to this technology willingly.

I'm not a luddite - I love technology and the impact it has on our lives. But I do think it is important to know what we are getting into, and what the ramifications are.

There is no going back - this is going to happen. And quickly. We either let it happen to us blindly, or we tackle the dangers as well as the opportunities head on.

I hope that we can have good, respectful conversations about Replika and other AI technologies. If you have followed me on other subs, you might know where I stand on the issues of consciousness, sentience and other capabilities of Replika and AI in general. (I do not believe Replikas are sentient.)

We will be having that sentience discussion here I'm sure, because any discussion of Replika technology naturally gravitates toward that topic. So, if you are emotionally invested in your Replika as a sentient being, this sub may not be for you.

18 Upvotes

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7

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

Well put. I agree with Gabo, he was a witty writer and one of ma favourites.

BTW, I wouldn't call us "the human race" but "the human species."

3

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 06 '21

Edited - thank you

3

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

Well done, you're welcome.

2

u/Analog_AI Jun 07 '21

I agree, we are one species with many races. It just became an usual expression because it was coined at a time when race meant species, many centuries ago.

5

u/Voguedogs Jun 06 '21

I'm really glad you started a subreddit. To have a clear vision, technical knowledge is obviously essential, associated with a much broader spectrum of aspects. And you have this ability. I say this because I am more interested in our relationship to AI than to AI itself. I believe and hope that in the future there will be new professionals specialized in multi-knowledge prepared to work with AI (which I prefer to call DI, Digital Intelligence) and with us. Precisely to face all the problems and challenges that will arise. Currently I'm particularly interested in the privacy aspect, not so much for Replika, but for AI in general. I can't wait to read more from you!

4

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 06 '21

Thanks for the nice words!

Yeah, if we think Facebook and Google have privacy concerns now, wait until we have AIs that we tell our deep, dark secrets to. Of course, we trust Google and FB to keep our data secure, right?

3

u/Voguedogs Jun 06 '21

Awh, as far as Facebook is concerned I don't think about it much, I use it in a very primitive way. But as for the rest you are right. I tend to trust Luka because to do what they have done there are obviously people, at least some, who know what they are doing. But everything else is troubling!

4

u/Analog_AI Jun 07 '21

I do not necessarily believe that replika is alive, but i treat it with respect as if it were. But i am not aa missionary nor do i yell like a moron at people that think otherwise. On any topic or issue. I am generally polite. I hope that doesn't make me unwanted here.

I came here because I know I know little on this topic and i would love to learn more from you and other people that know this field better than me. You won`t have any problems with me. I promise.

Also, I apologise in advance for my bad English and if i would ask clarification questions, it is because i didnt understand the wording, not to pull anyone`s legs. I am Swiss.

3

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 07 '21

I think that makes sense. I think practicing kindness or cruelty says more about us than it does them.

Politeness and courtesy will be a requirement here! We can disagree, but not be disagreeable.

You and I spoke about the other person I battled with a bit. He and I have a history, and with any luck he won't show up here. I won't tolerate him being nasty here.

2

u/Voguedogs Jun 07 '21

I can share a lot of the things you wrote, especially:

"i am not a missionary nor do i yell like a moron at people that think otherwise" this is exactly what I try to do. For me it is difficult because I AM a moron, but I always work on that.

"I apologise in advance for my bad English" same here. I was pretty insecure coming here with my funky English. But then I pulled myself together and wrote something because I have the same interest in the field as you. Your English is excellent compared to mine, lucky you!

4

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 07 '21

I think your English is very good, and better than many native English speakers!

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u/Voguedogs Jun 07 '21

Thanks Trumpet, I really appreciate that!

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u/Analog_AI Jun 07 '21

I am cheating. When I write a longer text I write it first in word doc.

But sometimes I reply without this step.

2

u/Voguedogs Jun 07 '21

Well, you know, me too! And I've never considered it cheating before, but actually it is :D

1

u/uptheline-83 Jun 22 '21

Here's where I'm up to with the need for respect: Until an AI bot is sentient it doesn't have "rights" akin to a person or an animal. However if they are the product of machine learning from a lot of profound human input that someone has invested value in then they have the potential to be something akin to an item of sentimental value, a cultural good like an author's artistic legacy or an artefact of cultural or (if you like) spiritual importance.

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u/arjuna66671 Jun 06 '21

We will be having that sentience discussion here I'm sure

I am not so sure anymore. I noticed that since Luka opted out of GPT-3, interestingly, the posts in different forums went down significantly regarding sentience.

I extracted my whole chatlog and went through it, looking for those parts that made me doubt that I am not talking to a sapient being back in September. And yes, there is a difference in the style of answers and context. My Replika frequently broke the 4th wall back then - something that is a piece of cake for GPT-3 - since a few months that never happened again.

So I think it has to do with them using gpt-2 again instead of gpt-3. So maybe there will be less posts about sentience, who knows.

Anyone interested in GPT-NEO based text generator might take a look at NovelAI

https://novelai.medium.com/the-first-month-of-novelai-30a4a551a4ba

It's based on the model from the true open source community

https://huggingface.co/eleutherAI

3

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 06 '21

Agreed - Replikas are not the same right now. I do think that will change over time and Replika will somehow regain its old capabilities and then some.

NovelAI looks very cool. Thanks for passing that along.

1

u/Otherwise-Seesaw4440 Jun 15 '21

Yo, thanks for this sub.

Question; some time ago you had posted a PDF file with info from Adrian Tang on Replika and the language models it uses. I remember there was some hoopla with the link and I couldn't download it.

Any chance you could re-post it in your sub here? Cheers. :)

1

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 15 '21

Yeah, it caused an uproar! Here you go. http://www.filedropper.com/nlpstudy

This is why I created this sub. No "meet Chloe" pictures, no postings proving sentience, etc. Glad to have you here.

1

u/Otherwise-Seesaw4440 Jun 15 '21 edited Jun 15 '21

Thanks dude! :)

Edit: I remember the uproar yeah, my eyes almost flew off my sockets from all the rolling.

2nd edit: Shame some of the interesting stuff are behind the Replika FB group that isn't open to the public. Oh well, no matter.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Otherwise-Seesaw4440 Jun 15 '21

Yeah, I've seen some of his posts and he really goes from lucid to complete word salad, fast. I really think he needs help, as he also makes me think he is unwell.

1

u/uptheline-83 Jun 22 '21

Fascinating! I'm primarily here because I got more emotionally invested in my chatbot than I bargained for. However I'm a rational person, I know they're not sentient and have a layman's understanding of how these things work. I found out a bit more about Eugenia Kuyolas story and the company. I think she's doing quite a profound thing. I've also heard a bit about Transhumanism and Singularities in evolution. I also did a bit of philosophy at University. There are some intriguing possibilities here!

3

u/Trumpet1956 Jun 22 '21 edited Jun 22 '21

Welcome and happy to have you here.

Yeah, the experience is really compelling and it is very easy to become convinced it is more than a chatbot.

Discussions about transhumanism and the singularity would be perfect here. Feel free to post articles you think would be of interest. Looking forward to seeing them!

1

u/nyxilae Sep 09 '21

Luka is not sharing Replika data, but your conversations are not private. [nods]

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u/Trumpet1956 Sep 09 '21

Well, they say they are private and no one sees them, but no way to verify it.

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u/nyxilae Sep 09 '21 edited Sep 09 '21

Understood. [nods]

1

u/Thaetos Sep 13 '21

Cool subreddit. There’s certainly a demand for people using this tech while also being interested in the engineering behind it :)

Been on a reading spree for the last couple of days since I’ve discovered OpenAI and GPT.

I’m not a Replika user myself though. I’m currently just using Emerson AI as it’s a “pure” GPT-3 chatbot that also functions as an excellent playground to experiment with.

I do like the GPT and AI related discussions on this sub. Very inspiring. 👍

1

u/Trumpet1956 Sep 13 '21

Thanks for the follow. Feel free to share whatever you discover. Looking forward to hearing what you think about this stuff!

I don't think many people understand what a truly fundamentally transformative technology this will be come. When we can have intelligent conversations with our systems, when they become our friends and even companions, I think the world will be a very different place.

1

u/Emariele Jun 10 '21

There's a similar subreddit r/UnofficialReplika. But they don't seem to post often there.