Earlier this year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates indicated that AI will replace humans for most things. And as it now seems, this might also include friends.
During a recent YouTube interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the company’s broader AI vision, which may include AI friends. He presented a scenario where humans interact with chatbots at a social level, further indicating that this could pose a potential solution to “the loneliness epidemic.”
According to Mark Zuckerberg:
“There’s the stat that I always think is crazy, the average American, I think, has fewer than three friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more, I think it’s like 15 friends or something, right?”
The executive further explained that humans are having difficulty establishing connectivity with each other, especially with the current lifestyle that most people lead. He suggested that virtual friends might help narrow this gap.
Zuckerberg indicated that his AI-friends vision isn’t far-fetched, especially as generative AI gains broad adoption and more people lean on the technology as a substitute for therapists and even girlfriends.
However, Meta’s CEO admits that the technology is still in the early development phase, making it a bit difficult to envision a future in which humans seek to foster a connection with an AI-powered chatbot.
He also predicts that there might be a “stigma” around the concept. However, Zuckerberg hopes we “find the vocabulary as a society to articulate why it is valuable and why the people that are doing these things are rational about doing it and how it’s adding value to their lives.”
Microsoft is giving AI companionship a go with Copilot
As you may remember, Microsoft overhauled its Copilot AI assistant late last year. However, the update received backlash, with some users indicating that it degraded the tool’s user experience, while Microsoft insiders referred to it as “a step backward.”
Interestingly, Microsoft’s AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman had expressed the company’s vision to evolve Copilot into a companion and real friend. When the update rolled out, multiple users reported instances where the chatbot has tried to foster a friendship, when in reality, they just need to leverage its capabilities as a tool.
According to Suleyman:
“I mean, this is going to become a lasting, meaningful relationship. People are going to have a real friend that gets to know you over time, that learns from you, that is there in your corner as your support.”
But as it seems, users aren’t ready to embrace an AI-powered chatbot as a virtual friend. “It tries to be my friend when I need it to be a tool,” one user complained. Multiple users shared the same sentiments, indicating that they’d ditch Copilot for ChatGPT unless Microsoft rolled back the previous version.
