#121 – Eugenia Kuyda: Friendship with an AI Companion

About this episode

<p>Eugenia Kuyda co-founder of Replika, an AI companion. Please check out our sponsors to get a discount and to support this podcast:<br /> &#8211; <strong>Dollar Shave Club</strong>: <a href="https://dollarshaveclub.com/lex">https://dollarshaveclub.com/lex</a><br /> &#8211; <strong>DoorDash</strong>: download app &#38; use code LEX<br /> &#8211; <strong>Cash App</strong>: download app &#38; use code &#8220;LexPodcast&#8221;</p> <p><strong>Episode links:</strong><br /> Eugenia&#8217;s Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/ekuyda">https://twitter.com/ekuyda</a><br /> Replika&#8217;s Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/myreplika">https://twitter.com/myreplika</a><br /> Replika&#8217;s Website: <a href="https://replika.ai">https://replika.ai</a></p> <p>If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/podcast">https://lexfridman.com/podcast</a>&#160;or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 06:18 &#8211; Loneliness<br /> 13:54 &#8211; Can AI alleviate loneliness?<br /> 18:13 &#8211; Love<br /> 20:49 &#8211; Russia in the 1990&#8217;s<br /> 31:47 &#8211; Chernobyl<br /> 41:35 &#8211; Communism<br /> 49:21 &#8211; Losing a friend<br /> 57:55 &#8211; Mortality<br /> 1:10:41 &#8211; Replika origin story<br /> 1:59:37 &#8211; Bringing people back to life with AI<br /> 2:05:37 &#8211; Relationship with Replika<br /> 2:18:27 &#8211; Can you form a connection with text alone?<br /> 2:27:45 &#8211; Does an AI companion need a body?<br /> 2:30:20 &#8211; Her<br /> 2:37:24 &#8211; GPT-3 for conversation<br /> 2:43:48 &#8211; We should be nice to AI<br /> 2:46:52 &#8211; Book recommendations<br /> 2:53:45 &#8211; Russian language<br /> 2:58:41 &#8211; Meaning of life</p>