My feelings about AI companions
It's no longer a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN. AI companions are coming.
Lately, I've been thinking more and more about AI companions.
Mass adoption will take time, but their emergence feels inevitable.
Dan's tagline - "everything you've seen, said, and heard" - is actually a pretty accurate depiction of where we're headed.
Does that excite me?
Yes and no.
Yes, because at a fundamental level, humans are evolving.
This is the next phase of our evolution - being enhanced by technology.
We already are, with laptops, phones, and more.
But this feels like a deeper shift.
Now, we have technology capable of processing vast amounts of data and generating something meaningful from it:
- Summarizing meeting notes
- Chatting with me to help understand a topic I just heard in class
- Reviewing my sales pitch and offering ways I could have improved
That part excites me: it will make life feel more fluid.
Tasks that used to take hours will take minutes.
Tasks that took minutes will take seconds.
Even something as simple as finding the name of that cafe someone once recommended becomes instant.
But with that fluidity, we're losing randomness, spontaneity. The messiness that makes us human.
The fact that we're all just trying to figure things out.
What happens when you can't even choose between pizza or a burger because an algorithm tells you that eating chicken and rice will extend your life span by 5 minutes?
What happens when there's so much human data that everything becomes algorithmic?
And instead of making irrational choices, the kind that make us human, you start choosing only what optimizes your body.
At some point, it may start to feel like we're living in the movie "In Time", with a clock ticking down our remaining time on Earth.
But it's not just that.
Think about relationships.
My parents met in school, in the same small town. They're still together.
I met my wife on a dating app. I had access to a much larger pool of potential partners than my parents ever did. But I didn't have data convincing me she was "the one." We had a first dinner. I got to know her, from her.
What happens when everyone has an AI companion, and you can access a trailer-like preview of someone you just met?
What happens when an algorithm tells you that you and X are 99.999% likely to be soulmates and live happily ever after?
Where's the thrill?
When life becomes so deterministic that it feels like you're simply executing a prewritten script - just following your destiny.
At least for now, it still feels like we're in control.
Maybe one day, it won't.