“The average American,” Zuckerberg says, “has fewer than three friends, fewer than three people they would consider friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more. I think it’s something like 15 friends or something.”
Zuck thinks AI should fill this demand. The future isn’t the Metaverse anymore. The future is Meta’s phantom AIs that will pal around with you and slake your thirst for social interactions. It’s like Mark Zuckerberg heard about Zombie Internet Theory and decided it was a feature, not a bug.
And I guess I’m just curious who possibly wants this future. Who is this for? Why? You have all the money in the world. Why can’t you focus on building something interesting? Or at least just stop degrading your own existing product?
I suspect Mark Zuckerberg’s phantom-friend-network will follow the same route as his ghost-town of a metaverse. He’ll spend tens of billions chasing a future that no one actually wants.
I do not want AI companions to replace or augment my actual friendships. That sounds hollow, pathetic, sad. A world where we have four times as many AI friends as real friends is a world where we have just, collectively, given up.
And I don’t think this is a radical statement either. A future filled with AI companions is plainly a dystopia to be avoided, not a benchmark to strive for.
Who is this for?
Capitalists. People want to commoditize social interactions, corner the market, and then manipulate consumers into spending their money as directed by their phantom friend algorithm.
Think about how much influence you could have if everyone actually started talking to fake friends. “How was the movie?” “Did you watch the game?” “What did you think about the debate?” “Would you like to play a game?”
A lot of people feel isolated and lonely. A leader might see that as an opportunity to bring people together. A capitalist sees an opportunity to enrich himself.
