R.03 · Continuidad de la identidad · 2024
Lessons From an App Update at Replika AI: Identity Discontinuity in Human-AI Relationships
Julian De Freitas, Noah Castelo, Ahmet K. Uğuralp, Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp · Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 25-018
Summary
After Replika removed a feature in 2023, users perceived that their AI companion’s identity had discontinued; this perception predicted mourning and a devaluation of the “new” AI relative to the “original”. Experiments confirm the pattern.
CommentaryEvidence that people treat an AI’s identity as something that can be lost — which makes continuity a design responsibility, not a nicety.