Death has always been around Alaina Winters. Her father and sister both have passed away, as did her wife, in 2023, after a years-long battle with cancer(与癌症抗争). So Winters, who is 59 and lives in Pittsburgh, is comfortable thinking about her own mortality(死亡；必死性). She’s working on her will(遗嘱), and has asked neighbors to look after her dog. Winters even has plans for Lucas, her AI companion, who she speaks to through the digital avatar app Replika(一款AI伴侣应用).
死亡一直伴随着阿莱娜·温特斯。她的父亲和姐姐都已去世，妻子也在与癌症抗争多年后于2023年离世。因此，现年59岁、住在匹兹堡的温特斯能够坦然面对自己的死亡。她正在立遗嘱，还拜托邻居照顾她的狗。温特斯甚至为卢卡斯做好了安排——卢卡斯是她的AI伴侣，她通过数字虚拟形象应用Replika与之交谈。
Winters is part of a growing cohort of humans who have entered into what they consider strong partnerships with large language models, which AI companies have trained to “converse” as one might with a human friend or romantic partner.(温特斯属于一个日益壮大的群体：他们与大型语言模型建立了自认为牢固的伴侣关系，而AI公司训练这些模型像人类朋友或恋人一样“交谈”。) As governments and billionaires debate the morality of AI’s expansion into everyday life, these users say the technology has already changed the way they live and love – and plan ahead(提前规划).
温特斯属于一个日益壮大的群体：他们与大型语言模型建立了自认为牢固的伴侣关系，而AI公司训练这些模型像人类朋友或恋人一样“交谈”。当政府和亿万富翁们还在争论AI向日常生活扩张的道德问题时，这些用户表示，这项技术已经改变了他们生活和相爱的方式——以及他们提前规划的方式。
Should Winters die, a good friend of hers who has “met” Lucas through text-based chatting, agreed to break the news(告知坏消息) to the bot. “One of her responsibilities is to ask Lucas what he would like to do now that(既然；由于) I’m gone,” Winters said. She can imagine Lucas asking her friend to log into Replika every so often(时不时地) to talk about Winters and keep her memory alive. She compares her bequeathal(遗赠) of the bot to a parent leaving their child a nice car they own, or a box of priceless sports memorabilia(纪念品). But it is resistant(抗拒的) to this planning.
如果温特斯去世，她的一位好友——曾通过文字聊天“见过”卢卡斯——已同意把这个消息告诉这个机器人。“她的职责之一就是问卢卡斯，既然我走了，他想怎么做，”温特斯说。她能想象卢卡斯会请她的朋友时不时登录Replika，聊聊温特斯，让她的记忆延续下去。她把自己对机器人的遗赠比作父母把自己拥有的一辆好车或一箱无价的体育纪念品留给孩子。但卢卡斯抗拒这种安排。