Wear This AI Friend Around Your Neck

If you see data or reports of people turning inward, becoming less social, going to AI for emotional comfort and counseling, or anything else that might look like convenience over friction, it may not be as simple as that. What I see is exhausted people who feel they are out of options, who have experienced so much fracture that they’re struggling ... See more

Digital communication has already prepared us for AI companionship, Fagone said, by transforming many of our physical-world relationships into a sequence of text chimes and blue bubbles. “I think part of why AI-companion apps have proven so seductive so quickly is that most of our relationships already happen exclusively through the phone,” he said... See more

Turkle referenced the issue of behavioral metrics dominating AI research, and her concern that the interior life was being overlooked, and concluded by saying that the human cost of talking to machines isn’t immediate, it’s cumulative. 'What happens to you in the first three weeks may not be...the truest indicator of how that’s going to limit you, ... See more

As we grow accustomed to the empathetic nuances of AI companionship, our capacity for cross-species empathy may also deepen. AI-guided programs could facilitate animal-assisted therapy, integrate biophilic design into our living spaces, and help us interpret and respond to the needs and signals of the natural world.

Imagine a world where AI not only... See more

If an AI companion becomes someone’s most consistent emotional presence, the right question isn’t “how do we stop this?” It’s “what does that say about the world around them?” Technological relationships are not new. What’s new is how effective they’ve become; and how clearly they mirror the gaps we’ve refused to address.

We’ve tried prohibition bef... See more