Always There, Never Judging: Can AI Replace Someone Close?

AI Companionship: Can It Really Work?

Researchers from North-West University examined whether a relationship with artificial intelligence can bring a person real happiness. They based their reflections on the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. In his view, happiness in life cannot emerge without other people, mutual care, trust, and responsibility.

For this reason, the authors argue in a scientific article published in Philosophies that artificial intelligence cannot become an equal partner in a relationship in the same way another human being can.

True happiness rests on deep, authentic interpersonal bonds. Yet artificial intelligence disrupts traditional ideas of friendship and relationships. Replacing human contact with AI-driven interaction risks eroding well-being and weakening community,

– write Anné H. Verhoef and Edmund Terem Ugar in The Conversation.

Why a Chatbot Pulls Us In So Easily

The authors of the scientific article also refer to another study on relationships with chatbots. Participants reported that AI tools felt almost like companions in the way another person might. Some even began to attribute human traits and mental states to them: empathy, intelligence, or consciousness. According to the authors, such deep bonds with a language model force us to ask what friendship really means, and what kind of relationship people can have with machines.

These attitudes are not just harmless theory without consequences. In Japan — a country where loneliness remains a serious social problem — human social relationships have become something one can buy. The company Gatebox issued customers certificates for marriages with Hatsune Miku, a virtual character. Of course, the government did not recognize such relationships as legally binding. Yet the boundary has been moving further still. Robots and generative AI have also begun to appear in religious practices.

AI Friendship Does Not Work Both Ways

Philosophers and researchers in AI ethics point to religious practices that have begun to use artificial-intelligence robots. AI increasingly occupies roles that, until recently, belonged only to human beings: confidant, partner, adviser, and even spiritual guide.

But these shifts have consequences. In the authors’ interpretation, AI is not like us. It has no biography of its own, no consciousness, no lived experience, and no capacity to take responsibility for its actions.

For that reason, AI systems should not be confused with authentic human relationships. The experiences they offer remain simulations: they are not objects of genuine moral care and reciprocity,

– the authors write.

A robot cannot reciprocate a relationship as another human being can. If we lose ourselves in using it, we may not only damage real human bonds, but also become dependent on the tool.

A Chatbot Should Support People, Not Replace Them

Publicly reported cases have linked artificial intelligence to the breakdown of long-term relationships, especially when a system gave one-sided interpretations of conflicts between spouses. Other cases have raised even more serious concerns around self-harm and suicide. AI influences us every day, and that influence keeps growing, even when we do not notice it.

Even so, the philosophers do not claim that chatbots are evil or that people should stop using them altogether. The point is to use them more wisely. As the experts themselves advise, we need to remember that a robot cannot replace a human being in relationships. We should therefore reflect on how the development of artificial intelligence may change our understanding of closeness, friendship, and happiness.

AI companionship may offer comfort, especially when loneliness becomes unbearable. But comfort is not the same as communion. A bot can answer quickly, patiently, and without judgment. A human being can answer badly, arrive late, misunderstand us, or ask something difficult in return. That is precisely why human relationships hurt — and why they matter.

Read this article in Polish: Zawsze odpowie i nigdy nie oceni. Czy AI może zastąpić bliską osobę?