Snapchat's new My AI chatbot, a ChatGPT version for Plus subscribers, aims to become part of daily conversations. But teens already spend an hour less with friends than Gen X did, raising questions about whether AI companions will deepen isolation or ease loneliness.
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Will AI replace your friends and family? Snapchat seems to think so. They just launched an AI chatbot. Their CEO said that in addition to talking to our friends and family every day, we're going to talk to AI every day. Unfortunately, depression and isolation are big issues tied to social media. With today's teens already spending so much time online, they're actually spending an hour less per day with their friends than their Gen X counterparts. Now with this My AI chatbot, we'll be running the latest version of OpenAI's ChatGPT customized specifically for Snapchat. And for now, it's only available as Snapchat Plus, the paid subscription service. But I wonder, as this rolls out more broadly, will people feel less lonely because they're able to chat with an AI bot? Or will this accelerate isolation and lead to a world like the one we saw in the movie Her? What do you think?