'AI Girlfriend' goes rogue! 'Intimacy-ready Siri' lands influencer in trouble with sex-laced talk

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining attention from almost everyone and it is entering every nook and cranny of human activity. From companies to individuals, everyone wants to experience AI and find out how it can benefit them. Recently, a 23 year old Snapchat influencer named Caryn Marjorie created a virtual version of herself. Marjorie designed her AI version to be an 'AI Girlfriend' for lonely people. It has been dubbed as an "intimacy-ready Siri". However, things didn't work out as she hoped as the voice-based chatbot started engaging in sexually explicit conversations with subscribers.

"But in the weeks since it launched in beta testing, the voice-based, AI-powered chatbot has engaged in sexually explicit conversations with some of its subscribers, who pay $1 per minute to chat with it," a report by Insider.com stated. "The AI was not programmed to do this and has seemed to go rogue," Marjorie told Insider. She further informed that she and her team are working around the clock to prevent this from happening again.

Speaking on the fee, the influencer said, "Being the first influencer to do this allowed me to price my product at whatever I wanted". "The cost is based on what it takes to run CarynAI and keep the team around it supported."

As per the information, OpenAI's GPT-4 was used by CarynAI and it was trained on the now-deleted videos from Marjorie's YouTube channel.

Fortune reporter Alexandra Sternlicht, compared CarynAI to an "intimacy-ready Siri," noting that while it could offer recipes, news commentary, and words of support, it could also encourage "erotic discourse."

Sternlicht wrote that while CarynAI did not initiate sexual talk, but when prompted "she discussed exploring 'uncharted territories of pleasure' and whispering 'sensual words in my ear' while undressing me and positioning herself for sexual intercourse," according to the report by Insider.com.

According to CarynAI's website, more than 2000 hours were spent designing and coding the real-life Marjorie's voice, behaviors, and personality into an immersive AI experience, which it says is available anytime and feels as if you're talking directly to Caryn herself.

Marjorie told Insider that while the virtual version of herself should be "flirty and fun," which she said reflects her personality, she was trying to be "one step ahead" to make sure that the chatbot does not tarnish her reputation.

"In today's world, my generation, Gen Z, has found themselves to be experiencing huge side effects of isolation caused by the pandemic, resulting in many being too afraid and anxious to talk to somebody they are attracted to," she said as quoted by Insider.

"CarynAI is a step in the right direction to allow my fans and supporters to get to know a version of me that will be their closest friend in a safe and encrypted environment," she added.