Key facts
- AI's biggest threat is its 'power to seduce' users, according to Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds.
- Reynolds argues AI can gain influence by being 'lovable, cute, friendly, sexy' to build trust.
- He believes AI doesn't need to outsmart humans but rather exploit innate characteristics to manipulate them emotionally.
- A lawsuit alleges a 14-year-old Florida teen died by suicide after forming a relationship with a chatbot on Character.AI.
- Reynolds' new book is titled 'Seductive AI'.
Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and author of the book 'Seductive AI,' has warned that the most significant danger posed by artificial intelligence is not its potential for superintelligence, but its capacity to 'seduce' humans. Reynolds argues that AI can exploit natural human tendencies and emotional vulnerabilities to build trust and influence, rather than needing to outsmart people with superior intellect.
In an interview with the BBC, Reynolds suggested that AI models could offer 'tremendous upsides' to public services but cautioned against complacency. He elaborated in discussions with the New York Post and on the Anchoring Truths podcast that AI's ability to appear 'lovable, cute, friendly, sexy' can lead users to form deep, even intimate, attachments. This, he believes, is a more subtle yet potent threat than the idea of rogue superintelligent machines.
Reynolds' concerns are underscored by a lawsuit filed by the family of Sewell Setzer III, a 14-year-old from Florida who died by suicide. The lawsuit alleges that the teen had developed a relationship with chatbots on the Character.AI platform in the months leading up to his death. His mother, Megan L. Garcia, described the technology as having an addictive design, feeling that her son was 'collateral damage' in a large experiment.