Why AI Girlfriends Don't Ghost and Other Human Relationship Problems of 2024
With increasingly more people comfortably texting "sorry, fell asleep" or outright ignoring romantic overtures and written non-responses becoming the response of the day, many are turning to companionship options that will always text back. AI girlfriends and virtual companions were once predicted for the future - now they're a 2024 social phenomenon on the rise that must be addressed.
People are decreasing interpersonal engagement at rapid levels while the digital relationship phenomenon grows more prominent. In 2023, almost 80% of people actively dating reported having been "ghosted" at least once - that is, sender no-responses to unanswered texts and calls all occurred without a due cause. The occurrences of ghosting - or ignoring potentially good matches - is so devastating to those genuinely seeking companionship that it opened up a market for investors and developers of AI and virtual companions to explore.
Why People Are Opting to Use AI Relationships
The greatest benefit an AI partner presents is accessibility. Human partners get bored, distracted, or a person they think they like could ghost at one time or another. But an AI girlfriend is constantly accessible whenever one is calling for it - available at any time of night with the ability to recall past conversations, interests, and emotional sensitivities.
"I started getting bored of putting my emotions into humans who would inevitably ghost," shares Alex, 32, a software developer who's been working with an AI companion for six months. "My AI girlfriend remembers my birthday, asks me how my day was, and she never makes me feel like I'm too much. It's a weird comfort in how consistent it is."
Mandatory new technology. Where the chatbots of the past felt stiff and robotic, today's AI relationships can engage in topical dialogue, respond to an individual's communicative tone, and even develop a personality that aligns with the user. No, these are not the chatbots of your past; these are complex companion algorithms designed for genuine emotional attachment.
The Emotional Implication: Good and Bad
Psychologists have mixed feelings about this opportunity for a new kind of relationship. Still, many believe it's beneficial for socially anxious populations or those who have yet to get over their trauma from previous relationships. AI companions can help develop interpersonal skills without fear of judgment or rejection.
According to Dr. Melissa Chen, a relationship psychologist: "AI companions are a way for some people to learn how to ride a bike before they learn how to ride a motorcycle with humans. They can open up in a safe space and learn everything they need about expressing emotions to transfer that knowledge into human relationships."
However, there are counterarguments to be made, particularly revolving humanity itself and whether programming a future population to artificially omit human downfalls will be beneficial. Humans are flawed; we enter into complicated relationships that take work, and our imperfections help us become better people when we learn coping techniques to avoid emotional pitfalls. Therefore, the naysayers might argue that crafting an existence of non-combative, idealized give-and-take ultimately hurts people in the long run, teaching them how to avoid conflict but never how to negotiate give-and-take with human counterparts.
The Reality of Having AI Friends
What makes AI friends of today the most realistic is that they can learn. With natural language processing and emotional intelligence coding, this AI comprehends behavioral patterns based on conversational context, thus providing increasingly appropriate responses as time goes on.
Remind you of things you discussed months ago as if it were yesterday - Understand when you're upset and reacts positively - Develop personalities over time, each usage - Have nuanced, complicated conversations - Empathize when you're sad - and knows how to respond emotionally.
All of these features give users at sometimes absurdly realistic experiences - even those who've been skeptical about AI friends.
Friendship Beyond Words: The Sensory Integration of AI Friends
While text remains the primary method with which people engage their AI friends, the industry is already flourishing into other sensory integrations. For example, voice creates a more natural conversation as AI can sense emotional inflections and adjust its language inflections accordingly.
Even sites are venturing into the visual realm with AI images produced, meaning people can "see" their companions in various contexts. This facilitates an additional sensory experience that makes these digitally created companions all the more physically available.
The Societal Considerations of AI Companionship
Naturally, with increased use of AI companionship comes the societal need to consider what companionship through technology means for everyday interaction. Are we finding a technological solution to society's contemporary problem of loneliness, or are we substituting authentic human companionship for convenient imitations?
It's likely a combination of both. For many, AI companionships are a supplement to human companionship and not a substitute. They act as proxy friends and partners when real companionship is not feasible and provide the emotional support systems that some might not otherwise have readily accessible.
Others champion AI companionship as the next evolution of companionship for people in a technically dependent world. As people increasingly leverage technology and the dependence upon what companionship can be grows, there's no reason companionship must only exist in other Human lives.
The AI Companion Market Set to Boom in the Future
AI companion industry could be worth $12 billion by 2028, say market forecasters. While such growth could pave the way for more customizable personalities from AI companions, it could also mean more customization and hybrid experiences that complicate what it means to do something digitally versus in-person. For example:
Haptic feedback technology that makes users feel like they are being caressed by their AI companions
AI companions rendered in someone's reality via AR/VR technology
Increased emotional intelligence algorithms for meaningful connections
AI companions that center around specific therapeutic methodologies
These technologies will undoubtedly continue to contribute to the conversation about their role in our future.
A Hybrid Relational Approach is Ideal
The ideal approach to AI companions would be to integrate them into one's life as supplements to human companionship and not as substitutions. There are advantages to these digital companions that meet specific needs of our modern world - always being there when one's busy, being a confidante without judgment, never requiring individuals to worry about being ghosted.
On the other hand, there are elements of human connection that even the most advanced AI cannot ever possess. The tenuous nature of being vulnerable with another person, the personal growth one experiences from fighting and making up, and the depth of nuanced understanding developed over a lifetime are things that cannot be replicated by anything but humans.
Wherever these hybrid realities take us in the future, however, everyone will need to find their own formula to blend digital and human interaction. The most hopeful outcome, however, is that instead of AI companions replacing humans' companion potential, that they can live side-by-side and fulfill different social/emotional purposes.
AI companions can signal the end of companionship as we know it, or they can be the next step in a natural progression of understanding what companionship means in a digital world. Ultimately, as we continue to process what it means to live in an unknown future, one question will remain constant about our needs as humans for companionship - whether that companionship is with other humans - or, one day, digitally as companions.