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'Better than a real man': young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends
(techxplore.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Sounds like what they actually want in a man is a therapist.
A savvy young man might take note that "listening" is a desired trait in boyfriends.
I hope you don't think it's sarcasm, because it's true for many lonely people. They need a therapist first. Yep, one they can feel something romantic for, that seemingly happens very often, just have to know some boundaries which don't exist in an equal two-sided normal relationship.
What's interesting is that the first chatbot software ever invented was used as a form of therapy. All it did was detect key words in the previous sentence and say "tell me more about how X makes you feel"
More info (great podcast)