yes
Our friends are named Amy. Or Jackson. Or whatever name you prefer. They’ll support you, tease you, and check in on you. They’re eager to listen, so they’ll never ask you to help them move or come see their one-man show. They’ll cost $99 and are expected to ship in early 2025.
meet
friend: A new wearable AI companion you wear around your neck. The small, white, puck-like device records your every word and interaction and responds with a text accordingly. (The company says no audio is stored; its website says the data is encrypted and users can delete “memories.”) Ads for the product show people wearing it while hiking, gaming, working and flirting. “How’s the falafel?” a friend asks a woman as she eats a falafel wrap. “Embarrassed to get hit!” a friend texts a man playing video games with his (human) friend.
Friend sits at the intersection of two particularly troubling themes: artificial intelligence and the loneliness epidemic. At the same time that AI is transforming the way we interact with each other — work, healthcare, entertainment — more and more people are feeling socially isolated. Last year, the World Health Organization declared loneliness a “global public health concern” that’s as bad for people’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Friend founder and CEO Avi Shiffman said the reaction to the ad was
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This week has been decidedly a mixed bag.
“Tamagotchi has lost its soul,” one user replied. “This is weird,” another said. “Go out and make some real connections in the world.” Some users compared the ad to the dystopian world of Black Mirror. Others wondered if the ad was real or an elaborate skit.
“People are taking it very negatively,” Shiffman said when I spoke with him on Wednesday.
Shiffman is 21 years old. At age 17, he won a Webby Award for developing the coronavirus tracking website ncov2019.live.
Ukraine Evacuation
He started a website to help house Ukrainian refugees, then turned his attention to wearable AI.
He tinkered with the technology, offered refunds to people who had pre-ordered Tabs, and Friend was born.
It’s hard to know how seriously to take Friend. During the call, Schiffman downplayed its importance. “I think of it as more of an emotional toy than anything else,” he said at one point. “It’s fun, it’s entertaining. You don’t have to take it too seriously.” He also waxed lyrical about its potential. “I think AI companionship is the most culturally impactful thing that AI will do in the world,” he said. He describes Friend as “half art project, half actual product.”
And while he acknowledges that “there’s no substitute for real human touch and connection,” he believes AI companionship could be “really effective” in alleviating loneliness.
Dating with AI
Controversial
Some, like Shiffman, claim it helps reduce feelings of loneliness.
anxiety
AI relationships could replace real human relationships and exacerbate feelings of loneliness. For people who already struggle with relationships, the idea is that why stay tied down to a relationship when you can have an AI friend that’s fun, simple, and free of all the hassle of other people.
But so far, research doesn’t seem to support this fear: “For a portion of the population, it absolutely can be useful,” says Bethany Drake Maples, a research associate at Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute.
In January, Drake-Maples and her colleagues published a paper in the journal
Nature
surveyed more than 1,000 students who use the AI chatbot Replika to learn about their feelings of loneliness and perceptions of social support. Nearly half of users said they see Replika as a friend, someone to talk to who won’t criticize them. These users reported feeling less anxious and more socially supported. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said Replika had led to positive changes in their behavior or mindset. “Replika’s advice has helped me to better cope with stress in my current relationships,” one respondent wrote. And, according to the paper, “30 participants reported that Replika had prevented them from attempting suicide, without being asked.”
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Drake Maples is careful to say that these findings cannot be generalized: “The average person is [experience] “AI friendships have the same effect,” she says, and her study looked at “fairly lonely students,” but she adds that it’s not just young, white, male, or “people on the margins” who benefit from AI friendships.
“Some of these people are mothers with children who say, ‘I’m still lonely and I need something or someone to talk to,'” she says.
As for AI replacing human relationships, Drake-Maples says her research has found that, in general, AI can actually inspire human interaction. “A lot of users are using AI to boost their self-confidence or overcome anxiety,” she says, “and that inspires confidence and self-awareness when interacting with other people.”
But this is a nascent field, and Drake Maples says guardrails are needed: “I strongly believe there needs to be ethical guidelines. [AI companions] “When appropriate, nudge people back into relationships,” she says. This might be a gentle nudge like, “Hey, you need to talk to someone about that” or “Go practice with a real person right now.”
Shiffman says he doesn’t intend Friend to replace human friendships: “I’m a very social person,” he says multiple times, and his apartment is always buzzing with activity, with several roommates and advisors.
But, he adds, “I live a very different life than most people,” explaining that he travels a lot and his work and schedule can be unpredictable.
“In some ways, my AI friends have become the most consistent relationships in my life,” he says.
Source: www.theguardian.com
