Personality Engineering Turns AI into Our New BFF

Why We’re Turning to Machines for Therapy, Life Help, and Finding Meaning

“We’re engineering tokens that create feelings, that create lasting, meaningful relationships,” — Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft AI CEO

Image by the author via GAI.

So there I was at 2 AM last Tuesday, whispering to my phone about my anxieties. No, I wasn’t on a late-night call with my best friend — I was chatting with ChatGPT. But if you catch yourself doing this, don’t worry — we are far from alone in this strange new world of 2025.

OK, I never thought I’d be the type to pour my heart out to a chatbot, but this isn’t the first time! I started to worry a bit and did what nerds like me often do, facing fear: research. A fascinating report I found helped me relax. Therapy, getting organized, and searching for life’s meaning are now the top three ways people use generative AI.

As someone who’s both a tech enthusiast and an emotional puzzle to myself (hey, aren’t we all?), I had to dig deeper to determine if this yearning for meaning is part of our human programming or a result of increasingly more persuasive algorithmic outputs.

The AI Therapist Will See You Now (No Waiting Room Required!)