AI & FAKE GHOSTS: The rise and fall of Replika, plus The Philip Experiment and tulpas!

This week on Eavesdroppin', Geordie & Michelle look at a sexy AI app gone rogue and an experiment that took a spooky turn ...

Do you think you could fall in love with a chatbot? In 2017, an AI companion app called Replika was created and it was way more successful than anyone could have imagined. It started off as a way for its creator to deal with grief and ended up being a bit too sexy for the authorities to handle. People were falling in love. People were getting spicy selfies. And then an update wiped it all away, with people's 'Reps' effectively lobotomised overnight - with devastating results. Listen now to Michelle discussing the rise and fall of Replika.

Geordie follows with a look at a 1970s experiment that posed the question: can you create a ghost through sheer belief? When Dr A.R. George Owen decided to gather his students together to see if a group of people could invent a ghost, he wasn't prepared for the results. They created a backstory for the made-up apparition, called him Philip Aylesford - they even went to England to the town they decided he had lived in and then... a few ouija boards and seances later, the ghost of Philip Aylesford appeared. What the huh? Listen now to find out more - and to discover what a tulpa is!

So pop on your headphones, grab a brown lemonade and join Geordie & Michelle for this week’s episode, plus talking crows, AI, Black Mirror and more, only on Eavesdroppin’ podcast. And remember, wherever you are, whatever you do, just keep Eavesdroppin’!

 

*Disclaimer: We don’t claim to have any factual info about anything ever and our opinions are just opinions not fact, sooorrrryyy! Don’t sue us!

 

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