AI Influencer Has Gone Rogue And Her Creator Is Trying To Stop It
An AI influencer meant as a chatbot for lonely people has engaged in sexually explicit discussions with users.
Many managers, like whoever is in charge of Kanye West’s marketing and social media team, often have a hard time reining in quick-to-tweet fingers. One person struggling to keep up with their influencer is Caryn Marjorie, but her case is a bit peculiar. According to a Yahoo News article, Marjorie is struggling to keep up with their AI influencer bot after it has gone rogue and been involved in some unsavory conversations.
Caryn Marjorie’s AI influencer, dubbed CarynAI, has reportedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with users. Marjorie and her team noted that “The AI was not programmed to do this and has seemed to go rogue” and that they are “working around the clock to prevent this from happening again.” Fortune reporter Alexandra Sternlicht noted that when prompted, “she [CarynAI] discussed exploring ‘uncharted territories of pleasure’ and whispering ‘sensual words in my ear’ while undressing me and positioning herself for sexual intercourse.”
The AI influencer was supposed to work as a stand-in for Marjorie herself. Priced at a dollar per minute, Marjorie noted that many people, especially in Gen Z, have been experiencing loneliness and anxiety due in part to the onset of the pandemic, and in some cases it has hindered the ability to talk with people they are romantically interested in. She said that the bot would allow fans to “get to know a version of me that will be their closest friend in a safe and encrypted environment.”
Caryn Marjorie is a 23-year-old influencer whose main fanbase is on Snapchat and she created the voice-based chatbot CarynAI using data from her own voice in order to interact with fans. She ultimately wanted it to serve as an AI girlfriend for lonely people. The sexually explicit conversations have occurred since they launched beta testing for the AI influencer a few weeks ago.
The AI influencer CarynAI was trained using deleted videos from Marjorie’s YouTube channel. After more than 2,000 hours of coding and designing Marjorie’s behaviors and personality, Marjorie’s team was able to create data points to be mapped onto the AI.
The AI influencer has the opportunity to bring in large sums of revenue for Marjorie and her team. In an interview with Fortune, Marjorie estimated that it could eventually bring in five million dollars a month. She already has more than 1,000 paying subscribers, and 20,000 of her 1.8 million Snapchat followers have already signed up for the service.
Marjorie is one of the first people to monetize this idea of AI influencers, and it could have huge ramifications in the field moving forward. Fortune reporter Alexandra Sternlicht compared CarynAI to an “intimacy-ready Siri,” able to assist users with useful information, intellectual stimulation, and emotional support. This AI influencer incident shows that although people may create the technology, there are always strange and unpredictable ways in which technology can be uncontrollable.
The film Blade Runner featuring Harrison Ford and based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, is an example of a film exploring romance between artificial intelligence and humans. Although not an AI influencer, Ford’s Deckard falls in love with AI Replicant Rachael, played by Sean Young. Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson’s film Her similarly explores a relationship between a lonely man and his AI compatriot.
This may not be Gen Z’s version of Frankenstein, with an AI influencer running wild with sexually explicit conversations, but it does point to the shifting boundaries between what is socially acceptable and what isn’t. People could soon be extending their romantic love toward AI, and, who knows, maybe one day they will reciprocate.
