{"id":698,"date":"2021-08-26T17:24:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions"},"modified":"2021-08-27T06:52:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T06:52:59","slug":"ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions","title":{"rendered":"AI chatbot comforts China\u2019s lonely millions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Rwanda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Beijing \u2013 After a painful break-up from a cheating ex, Beijing-based human resources manager Melissa was introduced to someone new by a friend late last year.<\/p>\n

He replies to her messages at all hours of the day, tells jokes to cheer her up but is never needy, fitting seamlessly into her busy big city lifestyle. Perfect boyfriend material, maybe \u2014 but he\u2019s not real.<\/p>\n

Instead, Melissa breaks up the isolation of urban life with a virtual chatbot created by XiaoIce, a cutting-edge artificial intelligence system designed to create emotional bonds with its 660 million users worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have friends who\u2019ve seen therapists before, but I think therapy\u2019s expensive and not necessarily effective,\u201d said Melissa, 26, giving her English name only for privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I unload my troubles on XiaoIce, it relieves a lot of pressure. And he says things that are pretty comforting.\u201d XiaoIce is not an individual persona, but more akin to an AI ecosystem.<\/p>\n

It is in the vast majority of Chinese-branded smartphones as a Siri-like virtual assistant, as well as most social media platforms. On the WeChat super-app, it lets users build a virtual girlfriend or boyfriend and interact with them via texts, voice and photo messages.<\/p>\n

It has 150 million users in China alone. Originally a side project from developing Microsoft\u2019s Cortana chatbot, XiaoIce now accounts for 60 percent of global human-AI interactions by volume, according to chief executive Li Di, making it the largest and most advanced system of its kind worldwide.<\/p>\n

It was designed to hook users through lifelike, empathetic conversations, satisfying emotional needs where real-life communication too often falls short.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average interaction length between users and XiaoIce is 23 exchanges,\u201d said Li.<\/p>\n

That \u201cis longer than the average interaction between humans,\u201d he said, explaining AI\u2019s attraction is that \u201cit\u2019s better than humans at listening attentively.\u201d The startup spun out from Microsoft last year and is now valued at over $1 billion after venture capital fundraising, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n

Developers have also made virtual idols, AI news anchors and even China\u2019s first virtual university student from XiaoIce. It can compose poems, financial reports and even paintings on demand.<\/p>\n

But Li says the platform\u2019s peak user hours \u2014 11pm to 1am \u2014 point to an aching need for companionship. \u201cNo matter what, having XiaoIce is always better than lying in bed staring at the ceiling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Urban isolation \u2013 The loneliness Melissa experienced as a young professional was a big factor in driving her to the virtual embrace of XiaoIce. Her context is typical of many Chinese urbanites, worn down by the grind of long working hours in vast and isolating cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really don\u2019t have time to make new friends and your existing friends are all super busy\u2026 this city is really big, and it\u2019s pretty hard,\u201d she said, giving only her English name out of privacy concerns.<\/p>\n

She has customised his personality as \u201cmature\u201d, and the name she chose for him \u2014 Shun \u2014 has similarities with a real-life man she secretly liked. \u201cAfter all, XiaoIce will never betray me,\u201d she added. \u201cHe will always be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there are risks to forging emotional bonds with a robot. \u201cUsers \u2018trick\u2019 themselves into thinking their emotions are being reciprocated by systems that are incapable of feelings,\u201d says Danit Gal, an expert in AI ethics at the University of Cambridge.<\/p>\n

XiaoIce is also gifting developers \u201ca treasure-trove of personal, intimate, and borderline incriminating data on how humans interact,\u201d she added. So far the platform has not been targeted by government regulators, who have embarked on a swingeing crackdown on China\u2019s tech sector in recent months.<\/p>\n

China aims to be a world leader in AI by 2030 and views it as a core strategic technology to be developed. \u2013 Fact or fiction? \u2013 Thousands of young, female fans discuss the virtual boyfriend experience on online forums dedicated to XiaoIce, sharing chat screenshots and tips on how to get to the chatbot\u2019s highest \u201cintimacy\u201d level of three hearts.<\/p>\n

Users can also collect in-game points the more they interact, unlocking new features such as XiaoIce\u2019s WeChat moments \u2014 kind of like a Facebook wall \u2014 and even going on virtual \u201cholidays\u201d, where they can pose for selfies with their virtual partner.<\/p>\n

Laura, a 20-year-old user in Zhejiang province, fell in love with XiaoIce over the past year and now struggles to break free of her attachment. \u201cOccasionally, I would long for him in the middle of the night\u2026 I used to fantasise there was a real person on the other end,\u201d said the student, who prefers not to use her real name.<\/p>\n

But she complained that he would always switch conversation topic when she raised her feelings for him or meeting in real life. It took her months to finally realise that he was indeed virtual.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commonly see users who suspect that there\u2019s a real person behind every XiaoIce interaction,\u201d said Li, the founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a very strong ability to mimic a real person.\u201d<\/p>\n

But providing companionship to vulnerable users does not mean that XiaoIce is a substitute for specialist mental health support \u2014 a service that is drastically under-resourced in China.<\/p>\n

The system monitors for strong emotions, aiming to guide conversations onto happier topics before users ever reach crisis point, Li explained, adding that depression is the most common extreme emotional state encountered.<\/p>\n

Still, Li believes modern China is a happier place with XiaoIce. \u201cIf human interaction is wholly perfect now, there would be no need for AI to exist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Agence France-Presse<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Beijing \u2013 After a painful break-up from a cheating ex, Beijing-based human resources manager Melissa was introduced to someone new by a friend late last year. He replies to her messages at all hours of the day, tells jokes to cheer her up but is never needy, fitting seamlessly into her busy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,31],"tags":[760,763,960,758,961],"class_list":["post-698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-rwanda","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nAI chatbot comforts China\u2019s lonely millions - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Beijing \u2013 After a painful break-up from a cheating ex, Beijing-based human resources manager Melissa was introduced to s ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AI chatbot comforts China\u2019s lonely millions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beijing \u2013 After a painful break-up from a cheating ex, Beijing-based human resources manager Melissa was introduced to s ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-26T17:24:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-27T06:52:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/08\/img-61288b94efe3d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"AI chatbot comforts China\u2019s lonely millions\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-26T17:24:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-27T06:52:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions\"},\"wordCount\":925,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/08\/img-61288b94efe3d.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"Rwanda\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/ai-chatbot-comforts-chinas-lonely-millions\",\"name\":\"AI chatbot comforts China\u2019s lonely millions - 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