Artificial intelligence relationship chatbots: Pygmalion’s Galatea or dangerous technology? 

Thoughts on this topic and on the ethics of artificial intelligence in adult creator work generally.

By Principessa Giulia Ricci, a Femme Domme Philosopher-Princess Flirt for Niteflirt.com

“The invention of slavery as a juridical institution allowed the capture of living beings and of the use of the body into productive systems, temporarily blocking the development of the technological instrument; its abolition in modernity freed up the possibility of technology, that is, of the living instrument. At the same time, insofar as their relationship with nature is no longer mediated by another human being but by an apparatus, human beings have estranged themselves from the animal and from the organic in order to draw near to the instrument and the inorganic to the point of almost identifying with it (the human-machine). For this reason—insofar as they have lost, together with the use of bodies, their immediate relation to their own animality—modern human beings have not truly been able to appropriate to themselves the liberation from labor that machines should have procured for them. And if the hypothesis of a constitutive connection between slavery and technology is correct, it is not surprising that the hypertrophy of technological apparatuses has ended up producing a new and unheard-of form of slavery.”

― Giorgio Agamben, The Omnibus Homo Sacer

Artificial intelligence is, for better or for worse, an emergent technology which affects myriad spheres of our lives.  It is arguably an all-encompassing category—between large language models, artificial intelligence generally, chatbots, and the concept of machine learning, we have an emergent trend for a type of technology which is unprecedented, undefined, and with effects that touch all parts of life in ways we are only beginning to understand.  Its influence is felt in warfare, in the form of artificial intelligence drone swarms; it is felt in environmental stewardship work, such as drones deployed for reforestation projects; it is felt in the multitude of applications for ChatGPT —and this clearly includes within the adult creator industry.  There is  ChatGPTease, a ChatGPT platform for adult content creators—on the one hand.  There is Replika, a company utilizing large language models to create a custom “virtual girlfriend” chatbot with whom you can talk about adult themes and exchange NSFW photographs, on the other.

Grimes flying down during Anyma’s Tomorrowland set

For our part, the Niteflirt platform bans AI-generated content, as you can read about in the Niteflirt Rules within the terms and conditions of service.  This is certainly for many reasons—while I cannot claim to speak on behalf of Niteflirt as a company itself, I can offer my own opinion.  One reason to prohibit artificial intelligence generated content is because a Flirt could use AI-generation to create photographs of a nonexistent human being and pose as being a person who does not exist.  Another reason is because a Flirt could use images of an existing person and create images simulating that person engaging in sexual behaviors without their consent, a phenomenon known as “deepfake image-based sexual abuse.”  This phenomenon is prosecutable criminal behavior and can result in the perpetrator being arrested or subject to restraining orders and lawsuits, depending upon the context. If you are experiencing this form of sexual abuse, you can contact the law offices of Carrie Goldberg for legal representation.

While it may be less than thrilling to engage with an adult content creator who utilizes the large language model platform ChatGPTease to auto-generate their content, this activity in itself does not seem ethically offensive, and is certainly entirely legal.  If you dislike the notion of a Flirt using ChatGPTease to create advertisements for their services, you should probably just direct your business elsewhere, if you are able to sense that a Flirt is using ChatGPTease to begin with.

What we can ask is this—what about chatbots like Replika, which promise a sexy virtual girlfriend with whom you can share anything without having to actually engage with another person?  Although it might be more affordable in terms of money paid in return for a given duration of entertainment time provided compared to speaking to a real person on Niteflirt, there are ethical reasons—and even selfish reasons—to prefer speaking to a Flirt on Niteflirt over speaking to an artificial intelligence chatbot.  Even further—there may be legal reasons to prohibit the use of artificial-intelligence generated adult chatbots. “Men Are Creating AI Girlfriends and Then Verbally Abusing Them,” an article written for Futurism.com by Ashley Bardham, provides information that can be helpful in determining the answer to some of these questions. 

Firstly, the ethical dimension.  “Some users brag about calling their chatbot gendered slurs,” Bardham writes, “roleplaying horrific violence against them, and even falling into the cycle of abuse that often characterizes real-world abusive relationships.”  This is clearly not healthy behavior; it’s not going to be good for the gentleman using the chatbot, and it’s not going to be good for the women and other people in the lives of gentlemen using AI-girlfriend chatbots.  As the ethicist Olivia Gambelin pointed out to Futurism for Bardham’s article, artificial intelligence does not have a consciousness akin to another human being, different from oneself, with all their motives and desires and rights and realities.  While you might think this means it’s okay to treat a chatbot however you want, the reality is you are training your brain with a simulation that will creep back into how you treat other people in your real life.  Some people do this with adult creators such as Flirts, too, and it is an ethical wrong in those cases just the same—or worse! 

Secondly, there are also selfish reasons to be concerned about artificial intelligence chatbot girlfriends.  In the ancient Greek myth of Pygmalion, Pygmalion creates a statue of his ideal woman, Galatea.  He falls in love with this statue, and the Goddess Aphrodite blesses his love.  Galatea therefore comes to life and loves him back.  But do chatbots have this blessing of Aphrodite? 

Pygmalion and Galatea by Louis Gauffier

Well, this isn’t hard.  A chatbot is ultimately not a real person, and never will be.  So, if you are engaging with adult content in order to explore and learn about authentic human sexuality and improve your skills in seducing women, as some men do in addition to engaging to fulfill fantasy desires, a chatbot is not going to be helpful.  A chatbot will simply mirror back to you whatever it “thinks” you want to hear rather than teaching you about what real women want.  It can also lull you into a sense of complacency that you can disclose whatever you want about yourself, because it’s not a real person, but that can raise privacy concerns, because even if the chatbot is not a real person, the people who run companies like Replika are real people, and they are collecting data about the interactions which their users have with Replika chatbots.  If you don’t want a corporation to have the ability to collect all that information, then talking with a Flirt on Niteflirt is probably a better option.  In addition, talking with a Flirt (or Skyping with them during a Phone with Cam call!) is probably just a lot more pleasurable and fulfilling than a chatbot girlfriend could ever be.

Thirdly, there is a legal question about the ethical appropriateness of artificial-intelligence chatbots which simulate human love and affection.  There is fascinating and important research into this topic going on around the world.  One researcher asks,  “What is it going to look like when we have AI relationship chatbots where you have human assessors look at answers [to questions] and grade which one is more likely to make the human user fall in love with the system?” Dr. Simon Goldstein, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong, specializes in research into the ethics of artificial intelligence.  In an interview with “Science, Technology and the Future” called The AI Safety Dynamic, Dr. Goldstein continues,

“I think it’s just completely unpredictable what kind of system will come out of that [making humans fall in love with AI chatbots], and very disturbing to think about the kind of control over our personal lives that will give private companies in charge of these programs.”

              What will it do, Goldstein asks, to have machine learning
targeting a goal of maximizing its own ability to “control our desires?” 

Dr. Simon Goldstein, ethicist, researcher and associate professor
at University of Hong Kong

The power of optimization, he says, will make these products “extremely addictive.” Ultimately, Dr. Goldstein goes so far as to say AI chatbots should just be illegal. “It seems like there is no social value for them, it seems like a pretty easy thing to regulate. . .  I see very little public benefit.” Dr. Goldstein predicts that in the next few years, governments will get far more serious about regulating AI, and we will have to have some consequential discussions about what kinds of uses are allowed.

The fact is, realness and sincerity in terms of pleasure and desire is sexy and the focus on interactions with real-life women is probably not going anywhere in the adult creator industry.  After all, ethicist Olivia Gambelin said to Ashley Bardham with Futurism.com for her article, “'[chatbots are] no replacement for actually putting the time and effort into getting to know another person […] a human that can actually empathize and connect with you and isn’t limited by, you know, the dataset that it’s been trained on.’” And it’s true.  You can get so much more from interacting with a real woman as you can do on Niteflirt than you ever could from an AI chatbot, and without quite the same risks to privacy or of addictiveness—although we know calling Flirts can be so much fun that sometimes gentlemen say they feel as if they are “addicted” to our services!

For my part, I am careful to take certain precautions to assure artificial intelligence does not encroach on my business ethics in working professionally as an adult creator and a Flirt.  While I did use ChatGPTease to generate ideas for Femme Domme video premises to create and sell as Goodies on the Niteflirt site (forthcoming!), I write all of my own copy and content published to social media myself—it is all original.  And while I do use some photo-enhancement software such as the open-source image editing software program “GIMP” to fine-tune the images and videos I create and share, I keep it in touch with reality.  Most importantly, if you want to verify that I mean what I say on this topic, you can always schedule a Phone with Cam call with me, and speak to me via Skype with my stunningly clear and high-resolution 4K webcam, to assure that yes, my photos are actually me, and I am actually the brilliant, beautiful woman that I say I am!  I try not to be too addictive.

 A Photograph of Princess Giulia shielding her face with a copy of The Phenomenology of Spirit by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

        Thank you so much for reading this piece.  If you want to learn more about the problems inherent with types of pornography that reduce your consciousness of the consciousness of the other person (the woman), I recommend you watch my video “Active Love and Love in Dreams—The Virtue of the Virtual (Let A Dominatrix Teach You The Difference Between Fantasy and Reality in Sex,” available on my Youtube channel.  If you want to discuss these issues with me directly or share your experiences—or if you are just feeling sexy and want to engage with me for any reason—please reach out by chat to schedule a Phone or Phone with Cam session with me.  Lastly, you should always feel free to call me on Niteflirt anytime you see me online.

I would like to thank you once again for reading. I look forward to speaking with you about this or any other topic you desire—soon!

Kisses,