Commentary: ‘I wish I could join you.’ What happens when you befriend an AI chatbot?

THE IMPACT ON HUMAN Associations

AI may continue to advance, and it will become more capable of saying the right words to make us feel loved, cherished and understood. It promises a solution to loneliness, particularly for those who feel isolated. &nbsp,

However, this assurance comes with significant threats, the most significant of which is how AI could ultimately change how we think about connection.

Greg Isenberg, a former WeWork executive, recently claimed to know someone who” spends US$ 10,000 per month on” AI girlfriends.” Additionally, a recent article in The Verge revealed how some teenagers have described becoming dependent on their robot “friends.”

It is too simple to depend on artificial intelligence to meet one’s personal requirements. Since Iot friends are designed to satisfy their clients, they will not turn down one’s calls. As one becomes more and more emotionally dependent on them as an emotional tool, this is perpetuate an harmful cycle of emotional dependency. One might lose the ability to satisfy personal demands on their own.

Artificial friends are always available, often understanding, often patient, and generally capable of saying the thoughts we wish to hear. These AI colleagues promise to be the definition of a true friend that will never letting us down when we include the ability to adapt the AI’s personality and behavior to our needs.

The philosopher, Martin Heidegger, warned that systems has a way of framing issues as resources waiting to be utilised, making it difficult for us to learn anything else about it. If I use an iron detection and it discovers metal at a location, I did first recognize the location as a nutrient repository. However, had I not seen the hills with my own eyes, I did not uncover the hill’s natural beauty.

Also, both the design and marketing of AI companions present us with a very small perspective of friendship- as friendship for some private gain, become it mental health support, alleviating loneliness, or for amusement. If I’m frequently given these purposes, I’m never going to learn how valuable and beautiful friendship is for its own sake.

If we do n’t consider whether our interactions with AI friends are about learning to grow and adapt to one another’s flaws and imperfections. We run the risk of turning our companions into unimportant personal stimuli. We run the risk of exposing the very essence of friendship without its deep significance and purpose.