Companions aren't Coaches: AIs' Effect on Social Skills

Forward: this is cross-posted from my Substack account. It was written for general audiences, so it may feel pedestrian by Less Wrong standards. However, I think it will be of interest to you--both because it may serve as helpful advice to people who you care about, and because it may be relevant to some conversations about systemic AI risks.I’m wary of AI companions. By “AI companions”, I’m referring to conversational programs that are intended, either by the developer or the human user, to provide the user with an emotional connection. Like many people, one of my concerns is that they will replace important interhuman relationships. Among the defenses I’ve heard in response to this concern is:Users can practice their social skills with their AI companions, helping them develop relationships to other humans.I call this the “social training” defense. Although it might be sound for some users, the far more likely outcome is reinforced social isolation. This is because the social training defense relies on several assumptions about the AI companion and the human user, most of which are unlikely to be true in practice.The UserTwo of these dubious assumptions are about the human user.Intent to LearnThe first of these assumptions is that a typical user is trying to improve their social skills, and that they’re doing so by deliberately practicing prosocial behavior with the AI. The “deliberate” part is important. Without it, users will reinforce their current social habits, not improve them.Unfortunately, I suspect that most users are not engaged in deliberate practice. Undoubtedly, many users chat with their companions to procrastinate, or simply out of habit. Even those who deliberately engage with their companion are not necessarily practicing their social skills. Instead, their goal might be to seek acceptance from the AI, to rant about their day, or to fantasize, among other motives. Indeed, a study published in Frontiers in Public Health finds that college students w