„What do we know about love" is the topic of a scientific conference, which was not accidentally held at our University on... Valentine's Day. One of the speakers was Prof. Przemysław Kazienko from the Department of Artificial Intelligence at our Faculty. He endeavoured to answer the question „Can computers love?" More on this topic in the conversation below.

To love, one probably needs to have feelings. Can a computer have them?

That's a tough question. For humans defining love is already difficult. Feelings are one of its elements. But it is not the only element. There's a lot happening in the digital world right now. We are at a turning point. We will have to ask ourselves whether we want such development and if we know what consequences it will have. The concept of love also encompasses relationships. We are capable of loving artificial entities, for example, one can fall in love with a car. But do we want to engage in relationships with these artificial entities?

Isn't it inevitable?

I don't know. It depends on what the future will be like. We might have to defend ourselves against it. Solutions for establishing such relationships are already available. We have scientific journals that focus on human-artificial intelligence relationships. There are applications in which we can establish relationships with virtual entities. Question: What kind of relationship is it and what are its consequences? A lot of difficult questions.

What are the current capabilities of artificial intelligence to mimic human behaviour?

When we say artificial intelligence, we usually mean the ability of artificial intelligence to think rationally. Chess games, reasoning, as long as it's rational reasoning. But people also have emotional intelligence. Someone may be a genius, but they might lack emotional intelligence. In this context, there is a question about the development of emotional intelligence capabilities in machines. A lot is happening in this area too. There are many controversies and open questions. We are talking about the ability of machines to recognise and simulate human emotions. There are studies in medicine showing that artificial intelligence can be more emotional in ordinary dialogue than doctors. We can teach this emotional responsiveness to AI, tailor it to our needs.

So, artificial intelligence can display emotions, but not feel them?

Obviously, it does not feel, because experiencing emotions is a biological element. Let fear be an example. Blood flows to our legs so we can escape. Artificial intelligence does not have biology as such. But there are many other things. Issues related to love, such as the ability to make sacrifices (e.g., a parent for a child). Love can be the meaning of life. In this context, the question arises whether we want to live in a world of entities capable of simulating love?

Is this simulation about, say, the computer telling me – you are beautiful, clever?

Yes. There is an app that claims it can be a better virtual friend than a real one. It will never betray you, it's there for you 24 hours a day. There are also other areas, such as supporting the lonely. I myself have doubts about whether we are doing good by replacing a human being with a machine. In effect, humans won't be necessary. This issue is interestingly explored in the film "Her", where a solitary man develops feelings for an operating system called Samantha. It looks that such a choice solves his problem. He probably doesn't need another person.

You mentioned earlier that a person can fall in love with material things. Can computers love?

I'll answer briefly – no. Another aspect is looking at artificial intelligence from the perspective of chat GPT and text-based interaction. The chat uses content. But when we talk to each other, you can hear my voice, see my hands and my facial expressions. We might have a relationship that creates a completely different context for our conversation. The ability to communicate in a complex manner is very difficult to transfer to virtual entities. Being in the hospital, we feel differently when a nurse holds our hand compared to when a robot would do it.

Interviewed by Paweł Pyclik