Forming and maintaining friendships can be hard, particularly in an age where human interaction is increasingly digital. In a recent interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed that the average American has fewer than three friends. “There are all these things that are better about physical connections when you can have them,” he said. “But the reality is that people just don't have as much connection as they want. They feel more alone a lot of the time than they would like.”

Zuckerberg thinks AI friends and AI therapists can fill that gap. Last month Meta took a step toward that vision with the launch of its AI app, which it describes as “the assistant that gets to know your preferences, remembers context and is personalized to you.”

Meta is far from the first or only company betting that AI is the future of companionship. Since [...]

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Outline:

(02:18) The Link Between Chatbot Power Users and Loneliness

(06:56) The Uncertain Promise of AI Companionship

(10:16) Finding a Place in Society for AI Companions

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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