By India McCarty
Mark Zuckerberg recently shared his goal of turning AI chatbots into friends, but many experts have pointed out the dangers of getting too close to the tech.
“The average American has, I think, it’s fewer than three friends,” the Meta CEO said during an appearance on the “Dwarkesh” podcast. “And the average person has demand for meaningfully more.”
His solution? AI chatbots.
“I would guess that over time,” he continued, “We will find the vocabulary as a society to be able to articulate why that is valuable.”
However, many experts disagree with Zuckerberg’s solution, calling it “a terrible idea,” and pointing out the elements a bot-friendship doesn’t have, compared to a real-life friend.
In an op-ed for Fox News, entrepreneur and author Carol Roth wrote, “‘Friendship’ bots exploit that human desire in a non-human manner, faking emotion and connection to ensnare and ultimately control the human user. It’s catfishing to an exponential degree, but done, ironically, with the consent of the human user.”
She pointed out that, no matter how lifelike an AI chatbot might appear, this technology “will lack emotions, including empathy. They can fake it, but they can’t really feel it.”
“Human beings need more than dopamine hits. Humans need real flesh-and-blood interaction to grow, to flourish, to procreate and to have personal agency and sovereignty,” Roth concluded. “People should be encouraged to get off their phones and touch grass, meet other people and enjoy the world that the Lord created, not the fake world that technology has created.”
Related: Mom Believes AI Chatbot Led Son to Suicide. What Parents Need to Know.
Omri Gillath, a professor of psychology at the University of Kansas, agreed, telling CNBC that the idea AI bots could replace real, human friends is “definitely not supported by research.”
He acknowledged that there are “momentary advantages and benefits” to interacting with AI chatbots, adding, “It’s always going to be polite and always going to say the right things.”
However, “AI cannot introduce you to their network,” he said, or give you physical touch. “A hug would be so much more meaningful and helpful and beneficial” than what AI can give a user, Gillath added.
He concluded, “There is no replacement for these close, intimate, meaningful relationships [that we have with other people.”
While Mark Zuckerberg might be pushing for a reliance on AI in all aspects of our lives, experts agree that there is danger in getting too emotionally “close” to these bots — and there is no replacement for real-life friends.
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