Man Turns Ex-Girlfriend into AI

With the advancements in artificial intelligence, it’s possible to use them for a variety of purposes, including creating a companion to talk to. Today, we present the story of Takato Honda, a man who, after being rejected by his partner, found an innovative way to cope with loneliness.

Man Turns Ex-Girlfriend into AI

Takato Honda, after suffering a rejection at the age of 20, decided to delve into the world of AIs. Remembering a class on chatbots, he applied his knowledge to create an AI that mimicked his ex-girlfriend, using over 10,000 messages from LINE.

Currently, Takato Honda holds a PhD in engineering and teaches AI at Sophia University. He describes the process and the contradictory feelings that arose during the creation of the AI: “Honestly, it was disturbing. I felt like I had created a ‘sad monster’. Sometimes the AI gave incorrect responses, other times it perfectly mimicked my ex-girlfriend, which was painful.”

Although the AI failed to perfectly imitate his ex-girlfriend, the project sparked a passion for AIs in Honda, leading him to obtain his PhD and found his own AI application development company.

Honda revealed that the original AI is no longer functional. However, in an interview, he shared that he revived the project with more current technologies, resulting in an AI capable of holding conversations seamlessly. Honda assessed that the AI “captured the person’s characteristics with a relaxed and expressive way of speaking.”

Despite significant advances, Honda still considers the AI a “sad monster.” “Although it resembles the real person very closely, there is always a sense of strangeness that becomes increasingly painful.”

via esuteru