AI no Idenshi Episode 4 Discussion

phantomfandom said:
This episode is a bold statement that it can be comedy too if it want, even if I'm not sure if I should laugh at its jokes or not.

The post-orgasm clarity switch though...

Marinate1016 said:
Using people’s likeness without their consent is wrong. I actually thought the episode would go a little deeper into that situation and examine how porn addictions can make you objectify women.

Marinate1016 said:
I cringed so HARD when he called Ichika Nana 🤦🏽‍♂️ my boy was SO CLOSE to greatness and fumbled it

Second best episode after last week’s emotional roller coaster. I think this one is VERY relevant too as we literally have a strike in Hollywood rn due in large part to the use of AI to replace actors in films. Also the deepfake porn situation with streamers recently.

Using people’s likeness without their consent is wrong. I actually thought the episode would go a little deeper into that situation and examine how porn addictions can make you objectify women.

We saw a little bit of that with how he started looking at Ichika’s chest and just ogling her as a thing rather than a person, but I could’ve done without the Risa simulation stuff and had an episode entirely focused on that. Just love that whole scenario. It is really a sad one tbh. All he’s got to show for all of that is an AI who he can’t even physically touch.

The Hide-Kun situation could’ve been cut too if I’m honest. He fumbled his own bag by cheating multiple times. Once you cheat that many times, a woman is already gonna start moving on mentally. No wonder she fell in love with someone else lol.

traed said:

I shouted out in that moment "oh noooo!". I think he could have saved himself if he just said he was nervous and tried a trial run of their date (which isn't really a lie) and that would be it, she could possibly have been fine with it and even find it sweet. She was only really offended because she thought it meant he was only interested in her for lusty reasons causing her to question his motives of dating her. He explained it all himself even in the game he actually was enjoying going on dates, this indicated he didn't merely lust this girl he cared for her and was just living a fantasy of being with her like literally everyone does when they like someone.

Every time you think of someone you are using their likeness without their consent. Every time you talk about someone you are using their likeness without their consent. These things cause no harm to them at least not inherently. Likewise if technology is used to aid someone's imagination as long as it's not used in a way that harms someone there isn't really any more an issue than it being a thought in someone's head. On a related note even just now there are 8 billion people on the planet, and at any given time anyone can have a several exact lookalikes of themselves walking around. So it's not like someone's likeness is inherently there own either unless it's actually them being photographed or something. It's not an issue of using of someone's likeness it's an issue of getting too caught up in fantasy and issue of data security or misleading people as much as security of your own mind from being tapped into or spreading slander. We have technology now where they are using AI to read people's thoughts able to reproduce a rough image of what someone is picturing and unfortunately this will only get better in future. Imagine the nightmares that would bring of thought crimes and endless persecution because someone thinking it's harmful to think about something without permission.

Marinate1016 said:

You lost me in the second half ngl, thoughts and imagination not the same as deepfaking someone face

traed said:

They are in effect exactly the same if it's not accessible to anyone but the person who created it. That's the point I was making and pointing a further breakdown of the lack of difference in how even our thoughts aren't safe from being seen by others anymore.

Marinate1016 said:

Ehhhhhh. Still disagree. It’s just a moral issue. I think it’s immoral and wrong to use someone’s likeness in an AI form like that. It’s just violating imo. I think most people feel that way too.

traed said:

I explained more in my edit that you had missed.

Basically im not entirely disagreeing but I have a more nuanced view that there is certain ways to do such things where it's not really particularly more immoral than thinking something while in other cases it's a big difference.

WatchTillTandava said:
That's just it though - one of the bigger questions which ties in to this episode: Why would it be considered wrong if it's not harming the person in question? As Dr. Sudo said, this game and its associated mods which the implant allows is just an exercise in personal fantasy, because the user should be reminded, and he goes out of his way to tell the patient on the way out the door (reminds me of Yasuo Iwakura's brief speech to his daughter in SEL, actually), that the virtual and the real worlds are separate and they must not be confused with one another and mixed up.

It would potentially harm the person if they found out about it, depending on the person, the person using their likeness, and the nature of the relationship between them. Possibly leading to feelings of embarrassment, anger, shame, fear, etc. Yet if they don't find out about it, there's really no practical harm. At that point, how is it any different than the boy (not just this boy character - any random hypothetical person) thinking of the girl's likeness in his imagination while pleasuring himself in his private time? No one apart from himself would even know unless he told them, so it's hard to see harm being done from something someone else doesn't see/hear/know/etc. and doesn't actually affect them. It only harms them if the person using their image in their personal fantasy sessions is mixed up and erratic enough to tell them or if they visibly noticeably start treating them differently in real life as a result. 

In this episode and the hypothetical scenario explored, the actual character in question did all of those things - started treating the real person differently in actual daily life and let it slip at the end what he had done. But someone else could easily just not do that.

einstorage6691 said:
I think we already get the point that AI, Humanoid technology is not always good for humanity, but why drag it for 4 episode with only very little story progress.... and next episode seem to be another many side story like this again. sigh...

StateofOhayo said:
idk i still think it's creepy to do weird stuff with a literal physical depiction of someone like i think some kind of consent should be considered. i get what you're saying but he literally created a personage it's not the same as imagining someone in your fantasies.

MellowGeekStudio said:
What if the guy had the consent of the girl's twin sister to use her likeness instead?

WatchTillTandava said:
Why are you defining the story as only the long-term one involving the mystery surrounding the main character's past with his mother? It's obviously, at least for now an episodic or quasi-episodic-style show and it's not uncommon for series like this to have long-running storylines involving the main characters which are never progressed or resolved for many episodes or even multiple seasons. It all depends on how long they envision the series being (not just this season - what if it receives another or multiple others?) and how it's plotted and paced as a result. What we're seeing these past few episodes also is the story. The story isn't just one plot around the main character. Oftentimes it makes sense to keep those on ice and on the backburner while much further fleshing out the rest of the world and other characters. It's not a race.

So far the pacing of this is very in line with classic both episodic and anthology series. I recognize that it's not what everyone likes or wants, and it may not be what you prefer, which is fine, but it's also very much an equally valid way of telling a story and having a series develop. Series that don't just race through their central/main overarching plot to the finish line used to do this all the time.

StateofOhayo said:
This would probably(?) be acceptable but idk, we've crossed into a weird territory here