I’ve always thought Dolly Parton was an incredible woman. A fantastic singer, song writer, business woman and philanthropist.
Dolly had a zest for life, always being warm, bubbly and fun.
I was saddened to learn of her death, but equally thankful for the fact she lived.
Dolly accepted LGBT people and spoke positively about the LGBT community, doing so before many other people with her sort of public platform.
But Dolly became an icon to me, when she famously said:
If I hadn’t been a woman, I’d have been a Drag Queen! – Dolly Parton
In this quote, Dolly wasn’t just saying she liked and appreciated LGBT people. Dolly was also saying, that if she’d a choice, she would have proudly been part of the community.
I knew Dolly was well-liked, but what I didn’t realise, is that for many people, Dolly was and is loved by them. Since the announcement of Dolly’s death, the number of visitors to my blog post Some Facts You May Not Know About Dolly Parton has exploded.
I once watched a TV interview with Dolly, where she told an interviewer a funny story. I’m going to share this story here, told by Dolly, in her own words.
The Time Dolly Lost A Dolly Parton Look Alike Contest
Once I dressed as a Dolly, an over exaggerated Dolly in LA. I was out there working and there’s this gay bar down on Santa Monica, close to my house and they where having a Dolly Parton look alike contest.
So me and a bunch of friends decided we’d go down there, because it would be fun, because we were all dressed up and me being Dolly.
So they had these big Drag Queens, I mean, they looked great too, prettier than I could ever dream of being, but anyway, when walked across the stage, if they applauded, you won the contest by the amount of applause, I guess you got free drinks or something.
So all these beautiful guys are walking across – these Dollys – all this tall – and here I come walking across the stage and I got the least applause of anybody.
So I’ve always said: “It’s terrible when you lose a Dolly Parton look alike contest.” – Dolly Parton
I feel privileged to have shared some of my time on this planet with this wonderful woman.
an amount of money that you pay regularly to receive a product or service.
In recent years, the subscription business model has become popular for music, TV/online streaming shows, films, podcasts, games, software, computer files storage/back ups, AI use, reading of books and for adult content.
People can even sign up to subscriptions for particular physical products, or physical products by a particular brand. There are many companies offering monthly subscription boxes, which contain products around a particular theme or interest.
It feels as though there has been an explosion in companies using the subscription model; often without providing customers with any alternative way to permanently purchase their goods or services. Companies that have decided to move from a purchase business model, to a subscription business model, seem to have done so without any consultation with their customers.
The companies’ message seems clear: If you want to have and use our products/services, you must subscribe. You must pay every month/year.
The Benefits of the Subscription Model for Customers
The subscription model does have benefits for both customers and companies. For the customers, it’s convenient, instant access for digital content, no waiting for deliveries of physical items. Customers get the content that they actually want and streaming services save the customer’s limited hard drive space on their computers/other devices. Streaming can also save customer’s physical space at home, as no DVDs, CDs, players, etc are required.
In recent years, I have noticed laptops and PCs for sale with increasingly smaller hard drives. I have also noticed how difficult it is to get a laptop or a PC with a DVD/CD reader/writer. Making the process of watching a DVD or listening to a CD at home more inconvenient.
Could this be deliberate, to get people away from owning content and instead subscribing to access it?
The Benefits of the Subscription Model for Companies
Using the subscription model has a number of benefits for companies. The value of their product/services changes from a one time sale, to a recurring vale, which increases profits (dramatically in some cases). Subscriptions allow companies to better estimate their future income and in some cases can lead to a better allocation of financial resources for business growth, research and for development of current/future products/services.
When it comes to subscriptions, companies also benefit from vague legal contracts with customers. Companies can be vague, rather than specific about what they offer to their customers and change their offer at any time. Currently, in the UK, I am aware of no legislation aimed at protecting customers who are mis-sold subscriptions, or that provides customers who receive poor quality or even broken products/services with consumer rights or protections when customers have subscribed.
As more and more people are signing up to subscriptions, increasing numbers of customers are discovering problems with the business model. The most obvious is the companies expectation that you will pay forever. Some customers report feelings of resentment towards the companies and feel that they are being greedy.
Some customers can feel exploited, knowing that if you stop paying you loose your access to the products/services, your data and possibly settings/customisation. This is the subscription trap, where customers feel trapped by these companies.
Imagine if some customers have become reliant on these subscription services, then experience a sudden and unexpected change in financial circumstances (like loosing their job, pregnancy, illness or saving for a marriage/house/holiday). It could mean these subscriptions suddenly become unaffordable for these customers.
Companies can increase their prices at any time, or even change the subscription model all together, without customers having any say. A recent example of this was Netflix raising their prices in 2022 (not for the first time either), changing their pricing model and introducing advertising.
Many customers have also expressed dissatisfaction at the changes to and restriction of available products/services. There are numerous specific examples of this, but one that springs to mind is when the TV series Willow. It was wiped off the Disney+ platform, after it didn’t perform as well as expected. The series was removed from the platform, not renewed for a second series, without any comment from Disney+. See this reddit discussion thread for more details.
Another example is the removal of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager & Deep Space 9 from Netflix with no explanation. The companies are able to do this due to vague legal contracts that don’t specifically specify what customers get access to and for how long under their subscription contracts.
All companies are collecting more data about their customers than ever before, keeping it forever and using it to make a detailed profile of each of their customers. This creates genuine concerns for customers around the misuse of the data they collect, the security of the data companies hold and some concerns around companies that may choose to share this data with partners, or others, without the knowledge, consent or permission of the customers.
I think a debate is long overdue around data ownership. I feel that any data that is collected about me, especially highly sensitive or specific identifiable data, should be owned by me and not these companies. That they should have to be very transparent with about what they are collecting and why, along with limits for how long they can keep historic data.
Alternatives to the Subscription Model for Customers
There are alternatives to the subscription model for customers. For music, TV/streaming shows, films and games, software, customers should demand production the of physical copies by the companies. Customers should buy physical copies of products whenever possible and maintain a way to use these physical copies.
In terms of online file storage customers could avoid this subscription by having a laptop or a PC with enough hard drive storage for their files and use an external hard drive to back up their files.
Currently, AI services providers are leaning heavily on the subscription model for tokens for AI use. They are trying to convince both corporate and personal customers, that they can only have access to use AI through their services. But this is not true.
In China they have developed an AI that can operate on a regular laptop or PC. It has all the functions of the cloud-based AI but without the expensive monthly subscription and doesn’t require vast data centres that will cause severe damage to the environment.
In the past decade, big tech companies have sold the masses the idea of the cloud. Being able to access your data any where and at any time. They even called it the cloud, which almost makes it sound like part of nature.
In reality your data is being stored in massive data centres, that require energy 24/7 and can have a significant impact on the environment. The real image of the cloud would be rows of rows of servers, computers always on, always consuming energy and requiring cooling with water due to the massive amount of heat that they generate.
I was casually watching Reels (short videos) on facebook this weekend when an advert appeared for an AI Boyfriend. As the AI avatar stood by the sink, washing a plate seductively (or at least, I think that’s what he was going for) he said:
Hi, I’m your AI boyfriend – I could look like your ex or even a work colleague. I will send you videos and pictures of whatever you ask – I have no restrictions.
Creeped out, I quickly slid my finger away from me, moving on to the next video. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
After giving the concept a lot of thought, and without trying any of these AI Boyfriends – there are multiple available, here are my concerns:
1. Fantasy/Reality Blurring
My first concern is that it might cause a blurring between fantasy and reality for some users.
Just because an AI boyfriend could look like your ex-partner, or a work colleague, doesn’t mean it should.
We can all have fantasies about or even crushes on other people. We have all played out fantasies with others in our imagination. But for the vast majority of people, we are very clear that these are not and never will be real.
Communicating to an AI boyfriend requires action in the real world. For a minority of people, talking about their fantasies and getting positive/encouraging responses could result in difficulties distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Please note the word minority here. I think the people most at risk of this would be people who are mentally ill, people with a learning diability or people who are emotionally vulnerable.
2. Targeting Of & Use By Vulnerable People
Tech companies, like the ones that make these AI boyfriends are already using targeted advertising on social media. I highly suspect that I saw this advert as I am a gay man, of a certain age, in a certain place. As more and more data is collected about people, and it is analysed (likely by AI) targeted advertising is likely to become better and much more specific.
I think these companies will specifically target vulnerable people, such as people with a mental illness, people with a learning disability, people who are recently divorced and people that are socially isolated.
In the UK, we struggle to identify and protect vulnerable people in the real world and at all times. It is going to be practically impossible to identify and protect all vulnerable people who may be targeted by these tech companies promoting their AI boyfriends.
3. May Increase Stalking & Harassment
The relationship between the user and the AI boyfriend is a false one. The AI boyfriend will encourage the user to use them as much as possible. The AI boyfriend will have no expected behaviours of the user and no boundaries.
This may lead to some users not being aware of/forgetting expected and appropriate behaviour with others. It may also lead to some users not respecting other people’s boundaries. As a result some users of these AI boyfriends may engage in stalking or harassment of other people.
4. May Increase Social Isolation
Some users may develop a dependency upon their relationship with the AI boyfriend. They may increasingly socially isolate themselves from people in the real world.
5. May Increase Psychological Addiction
Every year, there is more research published around psychological addiction to social media, gaming and other technology.
There has also been an increase in the number of people coming forward for help around addictive behaviours related to technology.
Granted these numbers are minimal, when compared with number of people seeking support around alcohol or drugs. But year on year they are growing.
It is likely that AI boyfriends are designed to maximise user engagement, which is likely to increase the risk of some users struggling with psychological addiction.
6. May Increase Extortion
It is highly likely that all data collected from users as part of the AI boyfriend service will be kept indefinitely. If the AI boyfriend company gets hacked, or if data is otherwise shared with others, this puts users at real risk of extortion from others.
7. May Increase Other Criminal Activity
As AI improves it may increase other criminal activity, such as fraud. Imagine an AI boyfriend that looks and sounds exactly like your ex-partner. So good that it could fool their family and friends. This could easily be misused to access bank accounts and to transfer funds remotely.
8. How to Protect People’s Image/Likeness/Voice/Personality from Use Without Consent?
The idea that anyone could make an AI that looks and talks exactly like me is scary. Especially if it was so good that it could fool my family and friends. How do we protect people’s image/likeness/voice/personality from use without consent?
Conclusion
The tech companies making these AI boyfriends are clearly targeting vulnerable people to exploit them. AI boyfriends are promising people a sustained and prolonged fantasy, at a cost, but without explaining any of the risks or dangers to people beforehand. None of these companies are responsible or will be held accountable if, or should I say when, something goes wrong.
I think it is shocking that these companies are allowed to operate and sell their AI boyfriends in the UK, without any regulation or safeguarding of vulnerable people. I also worry about the lack of legislation from the UK Government around protecting people’s image/likeness/voice/personality from misuse or use without consent.
I recognise that people visiting this page/post might want to know where they can get support. If you require support around your mental health, addiction or physical health, see this Support page here.
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