Is it better to date an AI chatbot or a person? That’s up for debate at the Comedy Cellar.
Are robots better partners than humans? Should society stop swiping and learn to love the machine?
It’s a question that’s increasingly resonant as more New Yorkers use artificial intelligence to write their dating profiles, communicate with prospective partners and even fall in love with chatbots.
And it will be the topic of discussion at the Comedy Cellar Village Underground Tuesday, where two scientists will debate the question in person, in an event titled “Could dating an AI be better than dating a human?”
The event is the latest from Open to Debate, a nonprofit media organization that hosts debates “dedicated to bringing multiple viewpoints together for a constructive, balanced, respectful exchange of ideas” according to its website.
Arguing in favor of the bots is Thao Ha, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, where her research focuses on how social media, AI and virtual reality influence adolescent romantic relationships.
Arguing against AI is evolutionary biologist Justin Garcia, executive director of Indiana University’s sexual behavior-focused Kinsey Institute and chief scientific adviser to Match.com.
He didn’t want to give too much away ahead of the debate, but said that AI has some potential relationship benefits, but also a lot of challenges and impossibilities.
Journalist and filmmaker Nayeema Raza will moderate the event. She also came up with the debate prompt.
“I need to know the answer myself,” she said, adding that she’s fascinated by modern dating and is currently a dater herself. “ The world around me, which is millennials and Gen Z, is spending a lot more time entrusting AI with deep secrets. I don’t personally know people who have romantic relationships with AI yet, but I was starting to fear AI getting in between relationships.”
As for the scientists, both anticipate being more aligned than the audience might expect.
“I’m not a hardliner that [believes] it should all be destroyed and banned,” said Garcia, who is arguing in favor of dating without AI but is open to the idea that it may have relationship-related benefits. “I do think there are places where AI can really benefit people in their relationships.”
That is the basis of Ha’s pro-AI argument: Nothing, she said, can replace human relationships, but tech can be an invaluable tool for people looking to find connection.
“We typically think people who fall in love with AI must be lonely. They must have a lack of friends. They must not be married. They must be different, right?” she said.
Wrong, Ha said: Many AI users “are relatively happily married” but can’t find something in their current relationships – say, a listening ear.
“And so they find it with AI, and often their partner’s aware of it and it can work out,” Ha. said.
AI may also help people through the loss of spouses, through their sunset years and through periods of immobility, Ha said. It can be a crutch for those struggling to be emotionally vulnerable because it can help them practice sharing their feelings with a non-judgmental audience.
“It’s a necessary alternative for some people in some phases of their lives. It’s definitely not a replacement for human relationships,” Ha said, adding that she does feel she got the tougher side to argue.
Garcia agreed that AI can be a boon, but not a replacement, for human relationships.
“My own view is it can help people, kind of like training wheels,” he said. “That idea that it’s going to replace human relationships, I don’t think it’s going to happen and I don’t think it’s wise for human wellbeing.”
Open to Debate’s “Could dating an AI be better than dating a human?” debate will take place 6 p.m. this Tuesday, June 10 at Comedy Cellar Village Underground (130 West Third St., Manhattan). Tickets are $25, plus a two-drink minimum.
