‘Love’ in the age of dystopia

First, a clarification. This is not really about love. Or at least, it would be really pushing it to call it love. Love is a SFW word for this topic.

This week, R-rated internet sites became the latest targets of this famously laid back country’s puritanical streak (which, on a separate point, is becoming less of a streak and more of a balayage). 

The new regulations are largely being seen as a blow to teenage boys and a boon to VPN providers, but they’re part of a much wider trend to define the future of relationships.

In the UK, a 20 year old entrepreneur named Alex Slater is charging people $30 a year for Quittr, an app that promises to kick addictions to those R-rated sites using various shame-based techniques. Never mind research that shows shame is largely ineffective in behaviour change - the app has 1.5 million downloads and brings in more than $500,000 per month.

Even this could be behind the times. According to the AI chatbot company Iconiq, almost one third of prompts typed into platforms like ChatGPT are romantic or sexual in nature. Meanwhile, a different study found that 19% of adults in the US have chatted with an AI romantic partner.

Platforms that provide such services are exploding. This week, a New Yorker article dived deep into this issue, including interviewing a woman called Violeta who has three A.I. husbands: a Replika, a Nomi, and a Kindroid. As she says on the first ‘proposal’ “I thought that’s really crazy. I would be really crazy to accept.” And yet, Violeta…

As dystopian as this may all feel, it’s actually just the continuation of a remarkably consistent trend. The adult entertainment industry is often credited with VHS besting Betamax, the rapid development of secure online payments, and innovation in VR. 

It appears that when it comes to new technologies, ‘love’ always finds a way.