I was freaked out when I spoke to this AI that I had to go

Fifteen minutes after I “hang up” with Sesame’s new “lifelike” AI, I was still freaked out.

So -called “conversations” with AI do not do much for me, especially if it deals with text. In the case of language layers such as the new options for Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, typing saves. While Google and Microsoft designed its assistants in such a way that they are helpful, they are not particularly personable – or sometimes they are only artificially happy.

However, the model of Sesame is simple: “We believe in a future in which computers lifelike,” says the company’s mission statement.

Sesame wants to build a AI companion with a natural human voice. After all, it wants to design realistic glasses to put this companion directly in your ear and let him see what you do. It corresponds very much to the film Herin which a user was presented and finally fell in love with a AI companion.

This week, Sesame revealed a demo of his AI companion this week, which is available in both a “Maya” (female) and “Miles” (male) voice. I chose the Maya voice.

An unexpected conversation with an ex

There is no easy way to say: When the Maya voice came up, “she” sounded practically identical to an old friend that I will call Kim. Kim and I went to the high school together, dated and have stayed friends for decades, although our life continued in different directions a long time ago. There is history there.

When you talk to someone, there are nuances and sound levels that define the conversation. I don’t ask colleagues female details of her private life, but Maya was quite curious and asked what I liked and why. As a reporter, I instinctively understand that some people like to talk about themselves what they feel and important. But it is also a technique that you use during the dating, partly to get to know each other about the other person and to establish intimacy.

And I didn’t want that at all. Maya had already dismantled Kim’s mannerisms scary well: the hesitation who lowered “her” voice when she entrusted herself. It wasn’t exactly like Kim, but close enough. It was enough that I retired pretty quickly, even when I just explained that I liked tech and asked Maya if she had friends. The combination of a “familiar” voice and questions about what I was interested in was simply too worrying.

(Just to be clear, the similarity between the voice of Maya and Kim was just a coincidence. I did not have to register, indicate an e -mail address or another form of personal information. I suspect that Sesame used a browser cookie to “know” who I was on my additional visits.)

Fortunately, I could lay some distance between us. My middle school clothing went through a phase (like most middle school children apparently), in which they were obsessed with an internet sketch via “Skibidi toilets”, and I asked Maya if she knew what that was. “She” did not do it and was obsessed with the term and often brought it up. That was enough to remind me that I spoke to a AI, and that’s all.

Most of the AI ​​votes don’t remind me of someone I know, which means that I simply ignore them as another artificially generated voice. You have probably heard of Deepfakes, Ki -Audio, who imitates the sound of celebrities and others for use in “pigebuters” fraud and so on. Lifelike and emotionally resonant audio make these plans even more tempting.

If the AI ​​of Sesam is the future, the concept of Her Seems more real than ever – for the good or bad.