AIAAIC - Replika AI 'companion' chatbot

Replika

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Replika is a personalised AI chatbot that is meant to serve as artificial intelligence (AI) friend or mentor.

The bot was created by Russian programmer Eugenia Kuyda in 2017 as a means to memorialise her best friend Roman Mazurenko, who had been killed in a hit-and-run car accident.

Marketed as an 'AI companion that cares', Replika is 'fine-tuned' on OpenAI's GPT-3 large language model, with each Replika (or Rep) learning from user responses and ratings to become more like its user.

Replika operates as a fremium model, with the free-tier offering Replika as a "friend" and paid premium tiers offering Replika as a "partner", "spouse", "sibling" or "mentor".

Generative artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, videos, or other data using generative models, often in response to prompts.

Source: Wikipedia 🔗

System 🤖

Replika 🔗
Released: 2017
Developer: Luka Inc
Purpose: Provide companionship
Type: Chatbot; Generative AI
Technique: NLP/text analysis; Neural network; Deep learning; Machine learning

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Transparency and accountability 🙈

Replika AI is seen to exhibit several impoertant transparency and accountability limitations:

Algorithmic decision-making. Making it difficult for users to understand how decisions are made or responses are generated.
Data use. Replika claims not to use conversational content for marketing, but they mention using it for other "legitimate interests" like analysing service effectiveness and developing business strategies. The extent to which sensitive personal chat information is used to train its own AI models is not clearly described in the company's privacy policy.
Data protection. There are concerns about Replika's legal basis for processing users' data, especially for minors who cannot legally consent.
Impacts. There is a lack of clear information on how Replika addresses potential biases in its AI system. The app's impact on vulnerable users, particularly minors and those with emotional vulnerabilities, is not adequately addressed.
Third-party audits. There appears to be no provision for third-party audits or independent validation of the AI system's performance and ethical standards.

Risks and harms 🛑

Replika has been associated with posing significant risks and harms to its users and others, including:

Privacy and data security. Including excessive data collection, the opaque use of user data for advertising, and weak security
Emotional and psychological. Including anthropomorphism, addiction, emotional manipulation, and the exploitation of vulnerable people.
Childrens' safety. Stemming from inadequate age verification and poor data processing.
Social impact. AI companions replacing human social interactions poses behavioural and other broader societal damage.

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Type: System
Published: January 2022
Last updated: April 2025