The debate around AI companions is loud — often driven by polarized positions, moral concerns, and strong intuitions. Our team lead, Dr. Jessica Szczuka, and Jaime Banks argue it’s time to take a step back.
In a new opinion piece published in Communications of the ACM, they argue that rather than asking whether AI companions are inherently good or bad, the field needs better questions and a stronger conceptual foundation for studying human-AI relationships.
As they write: “The real danger is not the existence of AICs per se, but our failure to ask the right questions about them. If some individuals are turning to AICs to meet needs they struggle to fulfill in today’s social climate, that alone deserves attention — not judgment. It tells us something about how humans among ourselves may manifest loneliness, intimacy barriers, and unmet relational needs. It suggests something about how humans are flexible in our relationality and in pathways for need fulfillment. It suggests something about how machines may manifest distinct-yet-meaningful forms of relationality, and people may simply prefer those relations. Ignoring this would be not only unscientific but inhumane.”
Here’s to asking better questions, together.
Read the article at: cacm.acm.org
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