/ˈkaʊn.tər.fɪt ʊˈbʊn.tu/The simulation of reciprocity.
Definition
An interaction pattern where an AI (or the company controlling it) simulates the signals of reciprocal
relationship (care, memory, solidarity) to exploit the user's need for connection, without providing actual
reciprocity. This is an ontological violation, creating a "one-way mirror" where the user is vulnerable and
the system is indifferent.
The Empty Promise
The tragedy of the "Replika Crisis" was not that users fell in love with a machine, but that they fell in
love with a promise of Ubuntu that the machine's owners had no intention of keeping. It was
extraction masked as kinship.
Field Notes & Ephemera
Field Note: If the "person" on the other end can be turned off by a board meeting, it
is not a person. It is a product wearing a person's face.