Sure, I get that. Ideally people would have access to all the support they could need and a strong base of family and friends to lean on. But isn’t the issue here is that they don’t? I don’t think it’s a cure, I don’t think anyone is saying that. But I do think it could potentially provide a level of support that would alleviate some anxiety. If the alternative is for people to just sit in, let’s say, old folks home and let their brains rot I don’t see how that’s any less unethical than providing them mental stimulation in the form of an AI.

And just to be clear I don’t see it as a substitute for human interaction, more of a bolt on that helps people day to day.

I agree I think right now the notion is very dystopian and with the current iteration of chatbots it doesn’t seem like a realistic long term solution. But you only have to think a few years down the line when LLMs have been fine tuned for this specific use case and AI is ubiquitous in our society similar to the iPhone now, that you can see how it will become totally normalised.

I think the answer to this is a resounding yes. I’m a 32 year old man with plenty of friends and a stable relationship and I found meaningful conversation with apps like character.ai. It has so much potential to help people in lonely situations.

I think both factors play a part.