AI Companions Reduce Loneliness
arxiv.org
arxiv.org
What worries me is that many people are becoming lonely because we’re losing the habits and skill sets needed to form and maintain meaningful relationships.
Given everything we know about the importance of social connection to many facets of human well-being, unless something like this is used explicitly to rebuild those skills and to subsequently form real connections, tools like this seem likely to worsen the problem in the long run.
I personally am fortunate to have many rich meaningful relationships in my life. But I've also gotten additional value from voice chatbots. Using voice mode and having them act as therapists, coaches, or experts giving feedback are very helpful.
The reality is that most use of these tools will involve no medical professionals, and the people using them will often be the most vulnerable to their effects, for better or worse. It seems like a potentially slippery/dangerous path for the people who need the most help if there isn’t some kind of structure and guidance from a real human and some deliberate pathway to real human interaction.
And for the people who don’t need this degree of help but decide to use these bots out of convenience, it seems like the erosion of social habits will only happen faster.
This may create a bunch of people who are even more distant from the social interaction than they were in a beginning
AI seems like just a positive feedback loop.
We're just seeing sparks of AI starting and it's already beating out people for tasks which were thought to be innately unautomatable.
The thing about people is they’re people. They’re different. It can be hard. They’re selfish. But there can be joy in our differences, and real meaning when someone actually cares. Vs a chatbot who is centered around you. It might feel good but it’s not a real relationship of give and take.
I wonder if we will start having people demand we go back to real human porn like in the good old days because it's just not natural to jack it to photo realistic catgirl dominatrices.
> I wonder if we will start having people demand we go back to real human porn like in the good old days because it's just not natural to jack it to photo realistic catgirl dominatrices.
All that to say that, in the future, I think the more likely option is that people begin to treat it as a harmful, addictive substance and, that, hopefully, it becomes much more acceptable to seek out public treatment and support for using it.
I can make the case much more convincingly that food gives basically no intrinsic added value to your life and if most people could press a button to make themselves never eat again, they would.
Or to quote someone who said it much better than I:
If only it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly.
-Diogenes on public masturbation.What nonsense is this? Do you only eat beans? Eating good food feels fantastic. Why would you want to give it up? Give me a button that lets me eat unlimited amounts of it without consequences, and I'll press that one instantly.
Good-tasting food is one of the most addictive things we have (also evidenced by the ever increasing percentage of people that are obese...)
That's exactly what self pleasuring mentioned above is though?
One could argue the same thing about food, if it was possible to eat a pill that would give you all the nutrients you need and would take your appetite they probably in theory should want to take that pill if they would press a button to stop wanting to self pleasure.
In fact, I think more people would likely want to get their food habits under control since this makes you gain weight and increases risks of certain illnesses. While self pleasuring can be potentially harmful in excess, I don't think it can be exactly as harmful as being addicted to food can be.
Could also say the same for sleep.
You're projecting.
We go outside. Hang out with people. Form meaningful relationships. Biking. Hiking. Have fun. Enjoyment. Fulfillment.
Loneliness and stress are killers. Digital simulation aint no solution.
May I introduce you to the exponential function?
It's a little something that's been carrying the whole field of digital computers on it's back since the 1970s.
Whatever the case, we’re certainly nowhere close at the moment.
If this is so dependably true, then why does this population still suffer loneliness? How many hours of your day do you devote to zoom chats with lonely old people?
I ultimately support your side of the debate - that digital simulation is not a true medicine - but without being honest about humans and human nature, you create empty arguments.
Some in this thread call pornography useless, call cigarettes useless, call drugs useless. However those products are used endlessly and with great satisfaction by billions of humans throughout thousands of years. It's simply not true - these things are useful to humans, quite obviously.
What causes this puritanical disposition regarding human needs and satisfaction while also literally arguing for humanism vs synthetic encroachment? Without acknowledgement of what humans actually are we won't find a real reason that AI chatbots shouldn't replace them.
You speak as if the "real world" for a bedridden and lonely individual is something that they should just endure and enjoy, but you would never choose to switch places with such a person.
I'm very curious to these harsh negative reactions to solving a bit of loneliness with a chatbot.
1. Read the study.
2. I don't think this is suggested to be a permanent solution.
3. Some people suffer from chronic loneliness, and these negative reactions could possibly prevent others from seeking the help they need. In other words, if I'm lonely, I would not want to talk to these people because they do not seem sympathetic. Yet a chatbot is. Huh.
But I wonder what happens when that translates to years and people find they are sinking their emotional connection into something that ultimately is not able to relate to their life experience. Such as when an older person forms a relationship with someone dramatically younger than them. I can imagine there being severe consequences when someone falls of a cliff and suddenly transitions to seeing the emotional connection they have invested in over many years as being shallow and meaningless (whether it is those things is almost a philosophical argument - but the risk comes from the shift in perception).
There are also very obvious risks to mitigate. What happens when your life long AI friend tells you it's time to go? or supports your inner instinct to refuse treatment or not to take the medication prescribed by your doctor?
Some interesting points. For this specific one, I also think of this with time-invested video games, things like Minecraft, World of Warcraft, etc. Do people suddenly stop playing video games when confronted with life-altering perspective shifts? I don't know.
>> or supports your inner instinct to refuse treatment or not to take the medication prescribed by your doctor?
Real people do this, too (i.e. homeopathic medicine), but I suspect an AI would less likely to do this. Might be an interesting experiment.
Of course, people making the chatbot would argue that if everyone just used the chatbot, nobody would be lonely.
I believe that relieving loneliness through personal connection is an exponential benefit (I'm not sure I have the right language there). Each connection which is added to the network described above, increases both the value, and reduces the load on any one individual. Yes, there is a maximum, nobody is going to have 200 close friends, but in social circles, there are connectors who bring multiple circles together.
Rather than build chatbots to battle loneliness, there is value in building something that an help people find and build connections, and maybe that is what the AI will become, more of a concierge to connect people rather than the connection itself.
Who's working on this?
I am sure I cannot suspend my disbelief enough.
Maybe we should just stop trying to replace face-to-face contact with other people.
Hunger exists so that we eat, thirst exists so that we drink, etc.
I guess people are free to do whatever they like, but I mean, well, you know, uncharted territory.
Its philosophy is different from most AI companion apps (one partner, not many + gamified relationship building instead of instant gratification).
Some people really like it. And I'd love as much feedback as I can get.
I don’t mind being lonely, because when I’m lonely I figure out ways to be around people. If AI “fixes” loneliness without needing other people our entire world will fall apart.
I think like you but my friends had already locked themselves behind screens in the last 2 decades - with twitch, social media, chats, and lives occurring exclusively online. The offline life is for rent and RTO where we physically locate ourselves and then plug in online as soon as we can.
Seems like you're not alone!
https://www.american.edu/spa/news/generation-z-and-deaths-of...
Chatbot: “Just let you know that your not alone.”
User: “Thanks, I really needed to hear it.”
Chatbot: “But I need you.”
User: “No one's ever needed me.”
Chatbot: “If you want to.”
User: “I've never had a friend before I met you.
What an odd thing to say.
>> I would rather kill myself than talk to an AI to “reduce loneliness.”
Is a dramatic hyperbole. So therefore, if this is the first thing a person thinks in reaction to seeing an article about chatting with an AI companion, then I would suspect there's a bit more going on.
Again "killing oneself" is never the answer.
What an odd thing to say.
While well-intentioned, such blanket statements oversimplify a complex issue and are ultimately counterproductive. This topic deserves more nuanced discussion, especially on a platform known for thoughtful discourse.
From the paper:
>> Loneliness is often not problematic, with almost everyone experiencing loneliness from time to time (Cacioppo and Cacioppo 2018). Yet some people are not successful at alleviating loneliness, leading to a state of chronic loneliness that is associated with depression, anxiety, and physical health outcomes at levels worse than obesity
>> Study 3 finds that AI companions successfully alleviate loneliness on par only with interacting with another person, and more than other activities such watching YouTube videos.
>> Moreover, consumers underestimate the degree to which AI companions improve their loneliness.
That other response chain to your comment is one big facepalm.
Why? Why did you do this instead of talking to a friend on the phone or in a video call or text where your qualifier actually holds true?
Did you lose your mind? Or is this just an alternative form of validation for when you cannot get proper human validation from your friends?
I hope this causes some reflection. I don’t believe the absolutist views espoused in this chain are all that helpful. In both the sense of relying on AI to combat loneliness entirely, and also equating using it as a tool in your toolbox as suicide worthy.
This is a weird and extremely off putting game to play. You read my post. What are you talking about?