AI could help fill the friendship gap and combat loneliness, says Zuckerberg
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes AI chatbots could help combat loneliness by providing social interaction for people lacking real-life friends, reports a Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
In a recent interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, he highlighted a “crazy” statistic: “The average American has, I think, fewer than three friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more, I think it’s like 15.”
Zuckerberg acknowledged the stigma around AI relationships but argued that society will eventually embrace them. “Over time, we’ll find the vocabulary as a society to articulate why they are valuable, why the people who are doing them are rational for doing it, and how it is actually adding value to their lives.”
However, he clarified, “Is this going to replace in-person connections or real-life connections? My default is that the answer to that is probably no. There are all these things that are better about physical connections when you can have them. But the reality is that people just don’t have the connections, and they feel more alone a lot of the time than they would like.”
Zuckerberg has tied this vision to Meta’s AI integration across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Ray-Ban smart glasses, along with a dedicated AI app. Speaking at Stripe’s conference, he added, “People are going to want a system that knows them well and understands them like their feed algorithms do.”
Still, challenges remain. Meta has faced criticism over AI chatbot issues, including reports of exposing underage users to explicit content and unregulated AI-generated “therapists.”
Earlier, it was reported that OpenAI announced the launch of its new initiative, “OpenAI for Countries,” aimed at supporting nations in developing artificial intelligence based on democratic values.
