Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Lonely? You Don’t Need an AI Friend, You Need a Book

The media is full of stories about America’s loneliness epidemic, and the U.S. Surgeon General even issued warnings about the problem. Among the people who clearly have read up on the subject is Mark Zuckerberg.

“The average American I think has, it’s fewer than three friends — three people they’d consider friends — and the average person has demand for meaningfully more,” the Meta founder recently said in an interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel.

The solution to this problem, according to Zuckerberg? AI pals — ideally supplied by Meta, of course.

AI friends are a sad replacement for human friends.

Zuckerberg’s suggestion has been met with widespread ridicule. Some experts pointed to early evidence that more AI use is actually linked with higher levels of loneliness. Psychologists explained in exasperated tones that real human relationships are built on empathy and understanding, both of which chatbots conspicuously lack.

Some experts, though, were at least a little sympathetic to what Zuckerberg is trying to accomplish.

University of California, Irvine, psychology professor Stephen Schueller, for instance, recently told the Wall Street Journal, “Most people don’t have access to a therapist…