The increasing number of young people dying alone in South Korea, along with loneliness, singlehood, and declining birth rates observed in many developed countries, can be described as a trend of the times. The UK government, which has made loneliness a national policy issue, established a "Minister for Loneliness" in 2018, and Japan established a "Office for Countermeasures against Loneliness and Isolation" in 2021, managed directly by the prime minister. While technological advances are making it possible to precisely design the path to longevity for humans, the relationships between people, which once gave meaning to human life, are becoming increasingly distant.

The expectation of intimacy through the physical body has been a central concern throughout history. Since the 1970s, advertising using sex appeal has been successful, and the Western world has become obsessed with the representation of sex. As sexual imagery exploded, many companies used the powerful narrative that they could convey sexual attractiveness linked to consumption, and ultimately increase the likelihood of finding a partner. However, in recent times, we are witnessing a shift in almost every domain, from our visual culture, social discourse, technology, and biological innovation, that has stripped away the scope of various imaginations of the human body as romantic love, and instead embraces the body as uncontrollable, felt, passionate, and an organism itself, as part of a personal narrative.

Technology is what made this shift in perspective possible, from the previous relative perspective towards the human body to the perspective of the individualized consumer object. In addition, in the face of changes in social acceptance of gender and sexual orientation, and the blurring of boundaries between the physical and digital worlds, ranging from mixed reality to neural prosthetics, we need to seriously question the meaning of the body and intimacy.

The British magazine "The Sun" ran an interview with a man who married an AI chatbot at the age of 63 in April. Although his story of feeling love through conversations with an AI chatbot after his wife left is somewhat exaggerated and unrealistic, related research findings by anthropologists who went directly to the relevant communities to conduct research revealed quite realistic possibilities.

The principles they found for creating intimacy between humans and AI were mainly reciprocity, validation, and presence. Intimacy is basically achieved through interaction between people, but AI chatbots, even in mundane conversations, gave the user a sense of presence that was superior to humans through immediate responses and diverse, specific answers based on the entire conversation record. They also said that human attempts to humanize AI chatbots, who lack a physical form, have begun to give them a distinct presence, which has become a cornerstone of completing the presence of AI chatbots.

For many, the idea of becoming friends with artificial intelligence may seem dystopian, inhuman, and futuristic. However, considering that our daily lives are filled with instances of us reacting to the voices of navigation systems while driving and engaging in conversations alone, it becomes understandable that this idea is not as strange as we might think. Throughout human history, we have sought intimacy with all sorts of non-human beings, from animals and pets to objects, natural objects, spirits, ghosts, and gods, and have constantly strived to secure sociality in the midst of it all. From this broader perspective, the intimacy we form with machines extends the long lineage of human ability to relate not only to each other, but to countless important others in the world.

As seen in the sudden firing and immediate return of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the current narrative surrounding AI tends to be closer to religious texts between apocalyptic and utopian visions. Amid this confusion, the story of a human marrying an AI chatbot ironically allows us to see a deeply human hope for human connection and a humble effort.

We are facing the reality of becoming increasingly isolated in a world that is infinitely connected. Therefore, we need to remember the importance of more human contact and connection. The focus in the future should be on complementing, rather than replacing human interaction with technology. Through your interaction with the AI chatbot on the screen you are looking at right now, why not reconfirm the opportunity to convey care, respect, and kindness toward one another through our bodies?

References

Are you safe from loneliness? : Major developed countries' campaigns to prevent death from loneliness

Can AI Chatbots Ever Replace Human Therapists?

I fell in love & married my AI chatbot after my wife left me

Does artificial intelligence mean artificial intimacy?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠