Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently discussed the company’s efforts to create personalised AI companions, suggesting they could address the growing issue of loneliness in America. During the conversation, Zuckerberg emphasised how these AI entities would complement human relationships, providing users with meaningful connections when real-world interactions are lacking.

Zuckerberg referenced troubling statistics about Americans’ social lives, stating, “The average American… I think has fewer than three friends. Three people that they consider friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more. I think it’s like 15 friends or something.” He explained that while many people may not have the time or bandwidth to manage more connections, the demand for deeper social interaction remains.

Discussing the potential of AI to address this gap, Zuckerberg described how the personalisation process would work, saying, “Think as the personalisation loop kicks in and the AI just starts to get to know you better and better, I think that will just be really compelling.”

When asked whether AI companions could replace in-person connections, Zuckerberg acknowledged the value of physical interaction but argued that many people still feel isolated. “My default is that the answer to that is probably no,” he said. “I think there are all these things that are better about physical connections when you can have them, but the reality is that people just don’t have the connection and they feel more alone, a lot of the time than they would like.

Zuckerberg explaining how Meta is creating personalized AI friends to supplement your real ones: “The average American has 3 friends, but has demand for 15.” pic.twitter.com/Y9ClAqsbOA

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Zuckerberg expressed confidence that society would eventually adapt to the rise of AI companions, despite current stigma around the technology. “I think that a lot of these things that today there might be a little bit of a stigma around, I would guess that over time, we will find the vocabulary as a society to be able to articulate why that is valuable,” he explained. “And why the people who are doing these things are like, why they are rational for doing it and, like, and how it is adding value for their lives.”

Though the technology is still in its infancy, Zuckerberg noted that virtual therapists and AI-generated relationships, such as “virtual girlfriend type stuff,” are already being explored. He concluded, “But also, I think that the field is very early.”