Researchers worry about AI turning humans into jerks

It has never taken all that much for people to start treating computers like humans. Ever since text-based chatbots first started gaining mainstream attention in the early 2000's, a small subset of tech users have spent hours holding down conversations with machines. In some cases, users have formed what they believe are genuine friendships and even romantic relationships with inanimate stings of code. At least one user of Replica, a more modern conversational AI tool, has even virtually married their AI companion. Safety researchers at OpenAI, which are themselves no stranger to having the company's own chatbot appearing to solicit relationships with some users, is now warning about the potential pitfalls of getting too close with these models.