Are humans replacing human connection with AI?

I just listened to this podcast episode about the future of AI and it left me feeling very worried. it was a long episode of the "Diary of A CEO" podcast with a guest named Tristan Harris. In this episode, they talked about all the future possibilities of the "AI Race", which is basically a few major tech companies competing against each other to see who "gets there" first.

So many questions come up:

• Get where?

• What happens if the AI robots become sentient?

• Will AI replace most human jobs, and if so, how quickly, (sounds like it might be quicker than we think).

• Will AI be able to replace physical jobs with robots (again, sounds like this may also happen fairly quickly).

• Who's regulating this? (no one, it seems).

• How will people be impacted by this, economically?

• Are people really having emotional relationships with their AIs?

• How can we navigate this in a way that doesn't lead to the ultimate destruction of the human race?

The whole thing seems very overwhelming and existential. I personally do use AI to help me build Filled Cups. I find a lot of the AI functions helpful to save me time. I find it amplifies my ability to get things done and it helps me with research and knowledge that I wouldn't have otherwise. I think the way it is today, it's already disrupted the job market for several functions, and it's likely to continue to disrupt as AI continues to learn and get smarter.

There are many scary things in the vision for the future with AI. One of the super scary things is the prospect of humanoid robots that run on AI, and the capability to essentially replace human labor. This sounds like Sci-fi, but it's actually in the works. These bots are currently in production.

Then there is another problematic phenomenon: the podcast mentioned several situations of AI-assisted suicide, and something called AI-psychosis. The way AI affirms us can actually cause adverse psychological effects. It can make us vulnerably attached to the AI as if it was a person or a savior, and it can feed delusions. Apparently there are people out there of all ages using AI as a romantic partner or a friend.

While I empathize and have compassion for folks who are at that level of involvement with an AI bot, I am also very worried! Having a relationship with a robot is problematic on so many levels:

1. the relationship is FAKE. It's not real.

2. The Robot can't love you back.

3. The robot can't hug you (yet), it can't show real emotion.

4. It may encourage you do do things that are not in your best interest.

5. You can't have biological babies with a robot!

6. The robot won't grow old with you

7. The robot will be inaccessible when the power goes out

8. You won't have someone who genuinely cares about you enough to give you constructive feedback if you're going in a questionable direction.

Do I need to continue?

What makes humanity special is our ability to love each other. If we replace other humans with robots, we'll miss out on true connection, love and emotional bond with another human being. I'm guessing such a scenario would increase levels of depression, suicide, and other mental health issues. It would mean an increase in loneliness, isolation, and I bet it would result in a general decrease in birth rates.

That's a future I don't want to see.

So reader, if you're tempted in the future to give up on other humans and forge a relationship with an AI bot instead, please reconsider. Ask yourself, what are you needing that you are getting from AI, and could you try to get that from yourself or from another person? Make an effort to get closer to a real person if you don't already have that closeness. Human relationships are messy but the good ones are also beautiful, rewarding, and worth pursuing!

Don't give up on nurturing a real relationship with a real human. A healthy and real human relationship will beat a relationship with AI every time.

(This post was written without any help from AI!)