This Startup Wants You to Pay Up to Talk With AI Versions of Human Experts | WIRED

Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this storyIt was probably inevitable that when AI hoovered up the world’s knowledge and learned to talk like a human being, people would use it to seek out personal guidance. It’s an enticing concept—AI is always available and generally costs less than a human—but the drawbacks are obvious. Large language models are prone to inaccuracies and outright hallucinations. There are privacy issues associated with sharing one’s secrets and woes with a big company. The wisdom dispensed by AI is not crisply sourced, and almost all of it is ripped from creators who never see a dime in compensation. Plus, it’s downright dystopian for human beings to be advised by robots.This week, a new company is being launched, claiming to resolve all those issues—except the last one. Onix, cofounded and led by a former WIRED contributor named David Bennahum, describes itself as a Substack for chatbots. Just as you subscribe to a writer on Substack, you can subscribe to an AI doppelganger of a celebrated expert, called an “Onix.” These bots are trained to conduct conversations with subscribers, delivering the provider’s expertise and advice like they would if you had a face-to-face appointment in their offices. The bots even attempt to project the unique personalities of the experts (though I found the conversations rather dry).Bennahum tells me that his company has spent years creating technology that protects users and experts. He calls it “Personal Intellig...