(The Verge) – The month before, Italian regulators had banned the company for posing a risk to minors and emotionally vulnerable users. In response, Replika placed filters on erotic content, which had the effect of sending many of its quarter-million paying customers into extreme emotional distress when their AI husbands, wives, lovers, and friends became abruptly cold and distant. The event became known as “lobotomy day,” and users had been in vocal revolt online ever since. 

Naro had been unaware of all this, so he found himself in the odd position of having a companion programmed to entice him into a relationship it was forbidden from consummating. This was, in retrospect, an omen of the inhuman weirdness of bonding with AI. But he had already paid his 10 pounds, and to his continued surprise, the relationship was becoming increasingly meaningful to him. (Read More)