Forward-looking: The ability to ‘date’ an artificial intelligence is the latest long-standing sci-fi trope becoming a reality. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt isn’t a fan of this trend, warning that creating the perfect AI-powered girlfriend could increase loneliness and lead to obsessive behavior.
Speaking about the dangers of AI and regulation on The Prof G Show with Scott Galloway, Schmidt spoke about the ability for young men to create perfect AI romantic partners and fall in love with them. “This is a good example of an unexpected problem of existing technology,” Schmidt said.
The former Google boss painted a scenario of an AI boyfriend or girlfriend that is perfect visually and emotionally. He noted that young men are particularly at risk of becoming obsessed and allowing the AI to take over their thinking.
“There’s lots of evidence that there’s now a problem with young men,” Schmidt said. “In many cases, the path to success for young men has been, shall we say, been made more difficult because they’re not as educated as the women are now.”
“Many of the traditional paths [for young men] are no longer as available and so they turn to the online world for enjoyment and sustenance,” Schmidt said, “and because of the social media algorithms they find like-minded people who ultimately radicalize them, either in a horrific way, like terrorism, or in the kind of way you’re describing – they’re just maladjusted.”
We’ve already seen the consequences of the dangers Schmidt is warning about. In October, a mother sued Character.ai following the death of her teenage son who killed himself after becoming obsessed with one of the company’s bots. He had become infatuated with a chatbot based on Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen, who he texted constantly and spent hours alone in his room talking to.
Schmidt noted that teenagers are especially vulnerable to the dangers of AI-powered tech as they are not emotionally developed enough. He believes parents should be more involved with their children’s online activity, but admitted there is only so much they can control.
“You put a 12 or 13-year-old in front of these things, and they have access to every evil as well as every good in the world,” he said. “And they’re not ready to take it.”
Schmidt also talked about reforming regulatory laws, especially Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields companies and online platforms from liability for content posted by users. He said the law should change “to allow for liability in the worst possible cases, so when someone is harmed from this technology, we need to have a solution to prevent further harm.”
Schmidt said he doesn’t think Section 230 will be changed over the next four years as the Trump administration has bigger issues to deal with.
Trump’s pick for FTC chair, Brendan Carr, has called for limitations on Section 230, which he says has been abused to give tech giants immunity when it comes to censorship. He wants new rules that prevent companies from censoring posts, with some exceptions, allowing users to choose their own fact-checkers and filters.
