In the ‘90s, there would be commercials late at night for TV psychics, or phone sex hotlines where lonely people would pay by the minute to talk to someone, anyone. There were real, breathing, strange women on the other end of those lines when you called. Isn’t that thrilling? When Chat Roulette broke out in the mid-’00s, the rush was in being deposited face-to-face with a complete stranger somewhere in the world, at random, who could be a pervert, a psychopath, a child, a celebrity, or maybe somebody dangerous. Chat bots don’t have any of that same pulse or spontaneity.