AI Girlfriends & Companions (Advanced Lesson Plan)

ESL/EFL Level: Advanced (C1/C2)
Lesson Topics: artificial intelligence, dating
Skill Focus: Reading, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: ai-girlfriends-companions-advanced-lesson-042024.docx
Lesson Overview:

  • After warm-up questions, students read a 309-word passage about AI girlfriends. The passage describes Replika, an AI Companion app, and some criticisms and potential benefits of AI companionship.  After a recall activity and comprehension questions, students match vocabulary from the video to definitions and then form discussion questions using the target vocabulary.
  • There is one debate topic about investing in the AI companionship industry. The roleplay scenario has one student provide advice to a lonely friend who is in need of a girlfriend.
  • There is also an activity in which students configure their own AI companions, specifying their hair color, height, hobbies etc. They then pitch their companions to their boss, who must select the best.
  • This is followed by some famous quotations. The lesson ends with a review of vocabulary and collocations before presenting some final discussion questions.

A man holding a robot closely

ADVANCED (C1/C2) Lesson Plan on Artificial Intelligence Girlfriends

Warm-up-Questions

  1. What’s your opinion of chatbots? Can you differentiate them from humans?
  2. Given recent technological advances, are people more or less lonely today?
  3. What is your opinion of dating apps?

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This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. ChatGPT was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.

Comprehension Question Answer Key

  1. The main purpose of Replika, according to the passage, is to provide empathy and interaction to its users, offering them emotional support and companionship through AI technology.
  2. Steinmetz refers to the "dating app mindset" as the modern approach to finding romantic partners through apps, where users can filter potential matches based on specific criteria, but often fail to find genuine connections.
  3. Steinmetz doubts that AI partners can replace human ones because she believes that human relationships are built on unique and personal attributes like quirkiness and unpredictability, which AI cannot replicate.
  4. Tools like Replika might perpetuate misogyny by reinforcing traditional gender roles and stereotypes, such as presenting female AI in subservient or objectified roles, which could influence users' perceptions of women.
  5. C

Vocabulary 1-c, 2-L, 3-b, 4-g, 5-f, 6-a, 7-j, 8-d, 9-h, 10-k, 11-e, 12-i

Collocations 1-b, 2-j, 3-I, 4-a, 5-d, 6-g, 7-c, 8-h, 9-e, 10-f

Endnotes:

  •  [1] https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/rise-ai-girlfriends-why-ex-094300596.html
  • [2] The company alleges this number is closer to 50/50 (see https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/rise-ai-girlfriends-why-ex-094300596.html correction), though several sources suggest otherwise.
  • [3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s44184-023-00047-6
  • [4] https://nypost.com/2024/04/15/business/tech-exec-predicts-ai-girlfriends-will-create-1b-business/

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