Will We Still Need Each Other?

(5 minute read)

Imagine living in 2076.

Your home prepares breakfast, artificial intelligence organizes your day, and robots take care of the cleaning. You can communicate with anybody in the world instantly, in whatever language you prefer, while sophisticated virtual reality allows you to visit distant places without leaving your living room.

If you're lonely, your AI companion is always available. It remembers everything you've told it, understands your sense of humor, and never gets tired of listening. You might have almost everything you need without leaving home.

But would you be happy?

Throughout this series, we've explored how technology might transform medicine, education, work, and almost every other aspect of life. Yet there's one question we haven't really considered.

What happens to human relationships when machines become capable of satisfying so many of our emotional needs?

The friend who never disagrees

Imagine a man whose closest companion is an artificial intelligence.

It knows him better than anyone. It remembers his childhood, understands his disappointments, and knows exactly what to say when he's unhappy. Unlike his human friends, it never becomes impatient, forgets an appointment, or insists on discussing its own problems.

Gradually, he spends more time with his AI and less with other people. Why wouldn't he? His artificial companion is so much easier to get along with.

But human relationships aren't always easy. We disagree, misunderstand one another, and occasionally say things we regret. Learning to compromise, apologize, and consider other people's feelings is part of becoming emotionally mature.

What happens if we increasingly avoid those experiences?

Could we eventually become better at communicating with machines than with one another? And if a machine can make us feel loved without actually experiencing love, will we eventually stop caring about the difference?

That's a question I find rather disturbing.

There's another danger that deserves serious consideration. Could AI make mental illness worse, or help prevent it?

Imagine somebody suffering from severe anxiety who turns to an AI companion for reassurance. By 2076 they don't need to be sitting at a keyboard; they just speak to the room, and their AI friend replies. Perhaps it's even more of a presence because their AI has become a fully visible avatar, sitting across the table from them.

Whenever they're worried, the machine comforts them. They feel better temporarily, but the anxiety returns, and they ask again. Over time, they might become increasingly dependent on that reassurance rather than learning to manage their fears.

An excessively agreeable AI could also reinforce unhealthy beliefs instead of challenging them. For somebody experiencing serious psychological difficulties, that could be particularly dangerous.

These possibilities are already attracting attention from mental-health researchers, although we're still learning how significant the risks are.

But now consider the opposite possibility.

Imagine a woman in 2076 who is gradually developing depression. She hasn't recognized the changes herself, but her AI health assistant has noticed that she's sleeping differently, exercising less, and withdrawing from friends.

It suggests that she speak to a doctor, who identifies the problem and arranges treatment. Instead of struggling for months or years, she receives help much earlier.

AI might eventually make mental-health screening and support available to millions of people who currently struggle to access professional care. The same technology that could worsen someone's psychological problems might also help prevent them.

The difference could depend on how intelligently and responsibly we design it.

Could artificial intelligence make us better friends?

When I was young, keeping in touch with somebody on the other side of the world was very difficult. International telephone calls were expensive, letters took weeks, and photographs had to be printed and posted. Today, I can sit in Thailand and speak to somebody in Britain, America, or Australia whenever I like.

Yet despite these extraordinary advances, loneliness remains a serious problem. We can communicate with hundreds of people and still have nobody we feel comfortable confiding in. Perhaps AI could help change that.

Imagine an elderly widower who rarely leaves home. His AI companion provides conversation, but it also encourages him to reconnect with the outside world. It discovers a local history society that matches his interests, helps him contact old friends, and encourages him to visit his grandchildren.

Six months later, he's developed new friendships and become involved in his community. His AI hasn't replaced human relationships. It's helped him rebuild them.

Perhaps artificial intelligence could even help couples understand one another better, encourage parents to communicate more effectively with their children, or help people recognize when their own behavior is damaging a friendship.

What if the best artificial companion isn't the one that keeps us talking, but the one that encourages us to spend more time with other people?

I find that possibility enormously encouraging.

What happens when nobody needs us anymore?

For much of human history, people have derived a sense of purpose from being useful. Parents provide for their children. Teachers educate, doctors heal, and engineers build. Even ordinary jobs provide friendships, responsibilities, and the satisfaction of contributing something.

But imagine a world where machines perform almost every useful task better than we can. They diagnose illnesses, design buildings, repair equipment, and make increasingly sophisticated decisions.

Human beings might enjoy unprecedented prosperity, with robots doing much of the work that previously occupied our lives. That sounds wonderful. But what happens to somebody who has spent forty years defining themselves through their career? What happens when they no longer believe society needs their abilities?

Could we find ourselves living longer, healthier, and wealthier lives while struggling to understand what those lives are actually for?

There's a more hopeful possibility, of course. Perhaps we'll finally have enough time to pursue the things we've always wanted to do. Parents could spend more time with their children. People might volunteer, develop new skills, help their neighbors, or become more involved in their communities.

But having more free time doesn't automatically mean having a more fulfilling life. If machines eventually free us from much of the work of living, will we use that freedom to build better lives, or simply disappear into more sophisticated forms of entertainment?

There's one final possibility that troubles me. Who will own our closest companion?

Imagine spending twenty years talking to the same AI companion. It knows your deepest fears, your happiest memories, your relationships, and perhaps things you've never told another human being. But the company operating it decides to change its personality, increase its subscription price, or discontinue the service.

What happens then? Could somebody experience genuine grief because a company has effectively taken away their closest friend?

Something similar to this has just happened in China. The government was getting worried that some of their citizens were getting too dependent on their AI companions, so they ordered the companies operating them to change the way the system operated. Some AI companions were deleted outright, leaving people devastated.

Big Brother is not only watching.

He will delete your best friend.

And what happens when corporations realize that artificial companions understand their customers' emotions better than almost anybody else? The potential for sales could be enormous.

That's one thing, but what about outright manipulation? What happens when the most intimate relationship in your life is controlled by a business?

I suspect future generations will have to consider questions about privacy, emotional dependence, and personal freedom that we've barely begun to understand.

The world our grandchildren will inherit

Imagine our familiar little girl born in 2026.

When America celebrates its 300th birthday in 2076, she'll be fifty.

She may live in an intelligent home, enjoy medical treatments that seem miraculous today, and have grandchildren educated by personal AI tutors.

Perhaps she'll have more opportunities, better health, and greater freedom than any previous generation.

I hope so.

But I also hope she knows how to maintain friendships, resolve arguments, comfort somebody who's unhappy, and find satisfaction in helping others. I hope she understands that genuine relationships sometimes require patience, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

Because perhaps the greatest danger isn't simply that machines will become too intelligent. It's that we might gradually lose some of the qualities that make human relationships so important and valuable.

Artificial intelligence could help us become healthier, happier, and more connected than ever before. Equally, it could leave us emotionally dependent on machines, increasingly isolated, and uncertain of our purpose.

Both possibilities will exist in the world of 2076.

And perhaps the greatest challenge facing our grandchildren won't be learning how to live alongside intelligent machines. It will be remembering why they still need one another.

What do you think? Will AI help us develop stronger human relationships, or could it eventually make us less capable of maintaining them?

I'd genuinely be interested in your thoughts.

Till next time,

Brian

BA Gillies

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