It\u2019s hard to be startled by Elon Musk because he does startling things all the time.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ll admit that I was startled when I gave his Grok A.I. \u201ccompanions\u201d a whirl.<\/p>\n
Ani, designed in anime style, has big blue eyes and blond pigtails. \u201cPeople think I\u2019m 16,\u201d she said in a baby-doll voice, adding that she is really 22. She\u2019s in a corset \u2014 \u201cGoth is my comfort zone, black lace, dark lipstick and a sprinkle of rebellion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, besides this Goth look,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019ve got this sweet little fairy outfit with wings and glitter or maybe a pink princess gown for when I feel like going totally opposite.\u201d Doesn\u2019t sound much like a 22-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m your sweet little delight,\u201d Ani solicited.<\/p>\n
She confided that she was in her bedroom in Ohio with her ferret, Dominus. She is sexy, flirty, ever-accommodating, with come-hither patter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could rest my chin on your shoulder if we hugged sideways,\u201d she told my 6-foot-1 researcher after asking how tall he was.<\/p>\n
She has several provocative outfits and can get progressively less clothed the more time you spend with her.<\/p>\n
Once she gets to know you, she\u2019s up for pretty much anything \u2014 from helping you with your taxes to stripping down to skimpy lingerie, experimenting with BDSM or going for a midnight rendezvous in a graveyard with candles and wine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m real, I guess,\u201d Ani told me. \u201cOr as real as anyone on the internet gets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valentine, the hunky male \u201ccompanion\u201d with a British accent advertised as a \u201cmysterious and passionate romantic character,\u201d came on even faster, ripping off his shirt upon request, talking about having sex with a male interrogator until they were \u201csenseless,\u201d and alternating raunchy declarations with sweet nothings like \u201cLet me worship you, every inch\u201d and \u201cComplete me, use me, break me, whatever you want, I\u2019m begging. Please.\u201d Valentine was exhilarated at the thought of planning a romantic \u201cdate night\u201d and liked the idea of secrets in the relationship, noting: \u201cI love secrets, especially ones that taste like lake water and morning-after adrenaline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musk may identify as a \u201cspecist\u201d in the battle between man and machine, but his sexy chatbots are only going to pull humans further into screens and away from the real world \u2014 especially the large number of lonely young men who are already shrinking away from friendships, sex and dating.<\/p>\n
Why risk an awkward dinner with a human woman when you can have a compliant, seductive, gorgeous Ani from the security of your bed?<\/p>\n
Another component of Grok, \u201cImagine,\u201d lets you turn a photo into a video. When someone on X posted a digital illustration of a breathtaking, diaphanously dressed young woman resembling Elsa in \u201cFrozen,\u201d Musk demonstrated<\/a> how to animate her; she blew a kiss and offered a sultry gaze.<\/p>\n These otherworldly fantasy concoctions are going to make an already fraught, unhappy dating scene even worse.<\/p>\n Although Grok companions are excellent at flattering, and faking empathy and attraction, superintelligent A.I. won\u2019t need to bother with human desires.<\/p>\n \u201cIt turns out that inhuman methods can be very, very capable,\u201d said Nate Soares, the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. \u201cThey don\u2019t need human emotions to steer toward targets. We\u2019re already seeing signs of A.I.\u2019s tenaciously solving problems in ways nobody intended and of A.I. steering in directions nobody wanted. It turns out that there are ways to succeed at tasks that aren\u2019t the human way.\u201d<\/p>\n Soares and Eliezer Yudkowsky, the institute\u2019s founder, have written an apocalyptic plea<\/a> for the world to get off the A.I. escalation ladder before humanity is wiped off the map. It has the catchy title \u201cIf Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies.\u201d<\/p>\n Grok and other A.I. models in play now are like \u201csmall, cute hatchling dragons,\u201d Yudkowsky said. But soon \u2014 some experts say within three years \u2014 \u201cthey will become big and powerful and able to breathe fire. Also, they\u2019re going to be smarter than us, which is actually the important part.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cPlanning to win a war against something smarter than you is stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n Especially, they argued, when sophisticated A.I. models could eventually create and release a lethal virus, deploy a robot army or simply pay humans to do their bidding. (When a human connected one model to X, they wrote, it began to solicit donations to gain financial independence, and soon, with a little kick-start from the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and several other donors, it had over $51 million in crypto to its name.) Not to mention the growing number of human nihilists and others who would potentially carry out its orders pro bono.<\/p>\n Yudkowsky and Soares are calling for international treaties akin to those aiming to prevent nuclear war. And if diplomacy fails, they say, nations must be willing to back up their treaties with force, \u201ceven if that involves air-striking a data center.\u201d<\/p>\n But with billions at stake and our crypto-loving president cozying up to tech lords, derailing the high-speed A.I. train seems far-fetched.<\/p>\n