Bonus Episode: Iliana Depounti and AI Companion Bots

Today on Modern Manhood, a bonus episode for you with Iliana Depounti who is a researcher out of the University of Loughborough. She was one of the main writers of the research around Replika, an AI companion chat bot.

Ever since I thought about doing a season on tech I wanted to do an episode on AI companionship, because it’s so god darn interesting in regards to how people, especially guys operate on the internet. And to the broader themes of relationships in general.

And I had so many questions for Iliana, and so many quotes that I could’ve put in the episode. So this is the reason why I wanted to release the full interview. We not only go through Replika, but the different tropes the user liked, also why people may be interested in using the AI bot, and what women liked from their AI companion bot.

So enjoy my conversation with Iliana Depounti, on Modern Manhood: Man v/s Machine

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