A few weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg went on tech guy Dwarkesh Patel’s podcast to hawk his company’s new chatbot, which he thinks can sell to a gap in the market: “The average American has three friends, but has demand for 15.”
The judgement was swift, and brutal.
“Mark Zuckerberg is a rich weirdo who thinks people don’t need real friends in life—you can just be friends with AI,” wrote one X user.
“Friends Without Benefits: Facebook exacerbated loneliness. Meta is on a mission to make us even lonelier,” read a tagline from Business Insider.
People might be shouting about how dystopian Zuckerberg’s “mission” is, but the truth is, for millions of people, AI is already doing what friends used to do for us. People are asking ChatGPT for personal advice. They’re downloading Anima, an AI that promises to help “grow your communication skills,” and Replika AI, an early chatbot company that launched in 2017, which now boasts almost 25 million users, and has the tagline: “An AI companion who is eager to learn and would love to see the world through your eyes. Replika is always ready to chat when you need an empathetic friend.”
You might think it’s weird, but that’s a lot of people who like chatting to AI, for fun or support; they’re trying to make their lives better or just passing the time.
But the question remains: Can AI actually become your friend?