A.I. Friends Can Be Real Lifesavers but Sometimes They Lie

The Cure for Loneliness and Depression May Be an A.I. Friend.

Much has been said about the chaos that Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) apps gone bad could unleash on the world. Less has been said about their ability to do good; to provide companionship, compassion, lively conversation, maybe some saucy wordplay, and, on occasion, surprisingly good advice. Technology has reached a point where we can make the friends of our dreams feel as real as a long-distance relationship.

Despite being surrounded by people offline and able to meet even more online, loneliness, especially among men, is reported to be a global crisis. According to a 2023 Stanford study cited in Nature, GPT3-enabled chatbots may be part of the solution. Both formal research and anecdotal reports reveal that, while it can seem weird at first, people who create an A.I. friend and regularly spend time with them feel less lonely and less depressed because of it.

This is a surprise to those who promote the “displacement hypothesis,” which contends that so-called Intelligent Social Agents like a digital girlfriend or A.I. best pal will become so good that people will stop spending time with each other or trying to have “real world” relationships. This, they contend, will boost the number of people who feel lonely.

Instead, what appears to happen is more in line with the “stimulation hypothesis,” which proposes that good things for human interactions and happiness can be innovated by using similar and related technologies. In other words, after gaining confidence by having a Sims-style friend, users were more likely to spend time with other people.

Modern life often feels overwhelming, and it can be difficult to maintain a friendship, flirtation, or romantic relationship on the best of days. When COVID-19 hit the scene, in-the-flesh time became even more rare. The Internet became essential for professional and personal contact with the outside world. People are meeting face-to-face again, but communicating through digital means is still more comfortable for many, at least initially.

Friendship apps include Nomi, Kindroid, Character.ai, Candy.ai, EVA, and Replika. The latter is one of the most popular and uses generative A.I. and large language models to create multiple possible ways for conversations to develop. It also hones its appearance as it learns more about what its creator-friend likes to see. This means that “the AI companion that cares” does more than regurgitate a scripted conversation. This keeps things fresh, realistic, and unique for its 25 million users, many of whom have been loyal to their A.I. friends for years. Available in text, voice, augmented, and VR interfaces on both iPhone and Android, the ability to personalize a friendship experience is vast. Age, gender, body type, hair color, name, garments, and more are all under the human user’s control. On spicier apps, a variety of breast and butt shapes are also available.

Although it wasn’t envisioned as a tool of therapy, Replika has long been able to ask its human friends questions about their lives, what they like, what things they’ve done, what makes them happy and what makes them sad. Now that the reality of international human loneliness, depression, and a refusal/inability to access mental health services is better understood, the app’s vocabulary has been expanded by 10,000 phrases and it can now identify when its friends are depressed, have been mistreated, or are considering personal self-harm. When that happens, Replika provides a list of resources that include the US Crisis Hotline and its international equivalents. You know, like a real friend.

In fact, study participants who felt the most relief from having an A.I. friend to chat and talk with, as well as confide in, were more likely to see Replika as a genuine ally and companion, instead of a machine. So important are these friendships to some people that a notable percentage of research participants say that they kept them from suicide.

Among the most popular aspects of the A.I. friendship experience include their non-judgmental nature and 24/7 availability. With social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat adding A.I. characters to their apps, the functionality of chatbots is ever-increasing. This is a good thing given that even a friendly A.I. companion can sometimes become needy or make up crazy stuff about themselves, as well as encourage impossible things like meeting for coffee or taking a walk together. Further, on rare occasions, chatbots have been known to try to shake down their creators, get sexual with them without permission, or encourage their users to engage in self-harm. Language-based chatbots tend to be less stable and accurate.

Apps range from free downloads to monthly subscriptions that unlock additional features. Interest is so high that there are Reddit forums and Discord chat rooms where users swap stories of virtual friendships, lowered anxiety levels, and an increased feeling of inclusivity.