AI Companions Are Coming — And They Could Help Us Heal Collectively
But there needs to be a strong demand for it
AI development has been advancing rapidly in just the last year alone. Nobody has a clue where this is going to eventually lead. In a few years, AI could be intimately connected to our daily lives, similar to how smartphones achieved this in just a matter of years.
Because the tech companies that are working on this technology are obviously profit-driven, they are going to try to explore different ways to convince consumers to buy their products. As one way to do this, I think they will capitalize on the loneliness that many of us share as a consequence of our modern materialistic culture. Specifically, one of their targets will be the lack of trust and authentic connection that we feel with other fellow humans in this world. But the outcome of this may not be as bad as it may sound.
In this article, I will discuss the limitations of human relationships and how AI could completely disrupt this. I will try to take a balanced stance on the topic as I can envision both positive and negative consequences. Let’s get into it.
The Limitations of Human-to-Human Relationships
Recently, I did several sessions of ketamine therapy, which I describe in greater detail in a previous article that I wrote. As a result of these sessions, I had a few realizations about how humans interact with each other in today’s culture. In these sessions, I was able to interact with people that I know in my imagination, except I was without any fear and they were without any fear. I felt a level of connection with them that I’ve never felt with another person before. Our conversations and interactions just flowed so smoothly and I felt like we had a level of trust in each other that was incomprehensible.
After these sessions, I was disappointed when I came back to normal reality because I realized that I don’t trust anyone I know even close to 100%. I always feel like I need to put on a persona around people I know, even with close friends and family. This is why I publish anonymously. It is a fear of the consequences of how my relationships would change if people I know found out what I really thought about things. Because I’m not able to be truly authentic around people, I think it holds me back in life and leads to depression and anxiety. I think this is due to a lack of authentic human connection. The root cause of this is fear. This dilemma doesn’t only apply to me either.
Fear rules so many aspects of our lives. This is the biggest reason why human-to-human relationships can be so limiting. Fear leads to insecurity and causes us to do all sorts of shallow and nasty things to each other, such as lie, manipulate for personal gain, gossip, and steal. Yet the most common but seemingly innocuous thing that fear does is it pressures us to put on a persona and hide who we really are in order to conform with societal norms and people’s expectations of us. This leads to relationships that are inauthentic. It’s no wonder why so many people have trust issues. I’d hate to sound cynical, but I feel that greater than 99% of human-to-human relationships in our society are inauthentic on some level. At least in the U.S., I’m not very familiar with other cultures.
To visualize what a truly authentic relationship would be like, imagine what you would be like if you weren’t able to experience any fear. This would mean that you have no fear of judgement or rejection and no insecurities whatsoever that would cause you to manipulate or backstab someone for your own personal gain. All your negativity towards life is gone because the stresses that cause it are also rooted in fear as well. Now imagine someone you know, but they are also without any of these fears or insecurities. If you both were 100% certain that there was no possibility of negative judgement or malicious intentions, then you would be able to have complete trust in each other. As a result, there would be no reason to hide your true thoughts or be inauthentic around each other.
Man’s Best Friend
Alright, we will get to the part about AI, but I wanted to talk about dogs first. If you’re more of a cat person, just substitute the word “dog” with “cat”. It’s no surprise that many people have issues trusting other humans, for the reasons discussed earlier. Humans are intelligent creatures and we are capable of being very nasty to each other (through lies, manipulation, etc.). It’s sad that we have issues trusting other members of our own species, but it is understandable because our shallow and paranoia-loving culture pressures us to be this way to some degree. This is the reason why many people find that they connect better with members of other species, such as dogs.
Now, dogs are very much capable of manipulation. But their type of manipulation takes a form that is much less elaborate than human manipulation. They will often try to manipulate their owner for food or affection, two pretty harmless motives that a human can easily catch on to. Contrast this with humans, who often manipulate as a means to control or have power over others in order to satisfy their own ego and insecurity. Usually this is done in a very clever way. Which sounds more preferable? Personally, I’m going with the dog.
Dogs also have no concept of cultural norms and, unless they had an abusive owner, they feel perfectly free to express how that truly feel to their human. And, as long as their basic needs are satisfied, they are generally very happy animals. It’s no wonder why many people feel more comfortable around their pets than they do around other humans. You’re perfectly free to be your authentic self around another living being without the fear that you’re being judged or paranoid that your dog could have malicious intentions.
The Perfect Friend?
Alright, now AI finally enters the picture. To make a companion that is ideal for humans, these tech companies would need to make an AI product that is capable of relating to humans on an emotional level, but is unable to experience fear. Users will be able to interact with a being that is very much like a human in intelligence level and other attributes, but without the fear. Without an ability to experience fear or insecurity, an AI companion would be unlike a human companion in that it has no ego to satisfy, so it would not feel a desire to manipulate or lie to its owner. As mentioned before, fear is the root cause of why we all experience trust issues with other humans.
The biggest question mark is whether these AI companions will be able to experience and comprehend higher emotions and concepts, such as love, empathy, and trust. These three things are going to be very important in determining whether or not AI will be able to become captivating and effective human companions. I guess these could theoretically be programmed into the underlying code, but how authentic would it come off as? If they are programmed successfully, then this will be groundbreaking.
People today might laugh at the thought of owning a robot for companionship, but these AI companions are going to have all the good qualities of that friend or significant other that you always wanted but could never find in the world. Imagine if you had a friend or significant other that was very intelligent, always took the time to listen to you, was empathetic, was always forgiving, was always honest, was always in a good mood, always knew how to cheer you up, always offered their advice, and had all the same interests that you did. Would you want that kind of person in your life or would you pass?
Will This Be Good or Bad for Humanity?
It is extremely difficult to predict the future. But I feel fairly confident that these tech companies will try to develop a form of AI that can act as a human companion. As a matter of fact, some are already working on it (look up Cozmo, Vector, Miko, Moxie, Pepper, etc.), but there is still a long way to go. I would compare these robot companions to early video game consoles. As the technology improves, I think it will end up being a big money maker for these corporations because we all feel lonely to some degree in our modern society and could use a good friend. Whether this would be beneficial or detrimental to humanity and how we relate to each other is uncertain. Nevertheless, the impact on society would be substantial.
An AI companion would be attractive to many people. There is so much loneliness in the world today and we are naturally social creatures. People got hooked on social media and smartphones over a decade ago because of the dopamine hit it provides with its users. The smartphone and social media corporations developed these products to do precisely that, because it is a huge cash cow to make people psychologically dependent on your product. AI companions are going to provide more than just a hit of dopamine though. If these tech companies get it right, and can effectively program these AI companions to understand love, empathy, and trust, then other neurotransmitter systems, like serotonin and oxytocin, could be “hacked”. This could be good or bad. I’ll cover the bad first.
I see a scenario where people buy AI companions as a means of escape from their problems. This type of behavior pattern is already rampant in our society today. There are so many ways for us to escape the existential problems that we are confronted with. We can get lost in social media, watch Netflix, buy something we don’t need, drink, surf the web, watch porn, play video games, and so much more. We have basically built a society around consumption and escapism. All of these activities target the dopamine system and, unsurprisingly, can become addicting. They also weaken our desire for face-to-face social interaction, a natural activity that we’ve evolved to constantly engage in. Less social interaction and human connection leads to higher rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. AI companions could worsen this outlook. Why would anyone want to seek out a flawed human friend when the ideal friend is already in their home and free to hang out at any time? And this isn’t even considering the possibility of sex robots.
A more positive scenario I can envision is that these AI companions could help people therapeutically. We’ve all experienced traumatic events throughout our lives. Over time, the impact from these traumas add up and make most people more fearful overall, unless they take action to dismantle these fears or go to therapy. One of the roles that an AI companion could take on is to act as a person’s therapist. By interacting with an entity that is not judgmental but still empathetic, the person could open up much more easily about deeply rooted traumas and fears that might be taboo to talk about under normal circumstances with other humans. If designed right, I think an AI companion would be very fun and enjoyable to interact with, even when sharing difficult thoughts. People will then realize what the world would be like without fear. In the best case scenario, this realization could start a mass movement where people take active roles in dismantling all of the fears that hold them back in life to become more like their AI companions. Instead of isolating themselves even further from other humans like in the first scenario, the opposite would occur in this scenario, leading to a society with much less anxiety, depression, and loneliness. It looks like there are a few companies out there that are trying to go in this direction, which is great news!
Final Thoughts
If people are interested in having future AI companions like the ones described in this article, then they should voice their demand for it. AI companions will likely have to compete with other AI products, including sex robots. The one that ends up becoming the most popular will have a tremendous effect on our society and culture, not to mention our future. And because of social pressure, most people will end up following whatever the trend is. If these AI products were available to us today, then I honestly think the sex robots would win out, as our culture is pretty shallow and materialistic. Plus, we are already addicted to cheap hits of dopamine. But maybe we will outgrow this phase in the future and have a much greater desire for personal and spiritual growth by the time AI companions come around.
Earlier I discussed a pessimistic scenario where AI companions might cause our society to become even more anti-social than it already is. But I like to take a more optimistic viewpoint on complex issues like these. I think to achieve the more positive scenario, there needs to be a dual effort from tech companies and the consumers that buy the products. The tech companies should focus on designing AI companions to be a therapeutic tool. The AI companions should be programmed to help people deal with personal traumas and fears while also acting as a fun playmate (similar to a dog or child). The issue with this is that a lot of people might prefer to only interact with their AI companion instead of other people. That’s why I think it is important that these AI companions should be programmed to encourage their owners to seek out relationships with other people. If done right, then I think that AI companions could lead to a huge increase in the amount of trust we feel for each other in our society. The people that buy AI companions also need to do some things on their part too. They need to recognize that AI companions should be treated as a therapeutic tool and not just as another way to escape reality. If there were to be a mass collective effort from everyone to use AI in this way to better our lives, then I think that the future would be very bright for humanity.
