Elon Musk says AI friendships can cure loneliness but what happens when chatbots turn into ‘bad’ mates who lead you astray?

Tech companies are in a race to cure the epidemic of loneliness with friendly chatbots, some even modelled on celebrities who will be your AI mate. But is this really the answer to a societal ill, asks Andrew Griffin, who looks at where emotional bonds between bots and isolated people with mental health problems have led to terrifying consequences

There remains a wider question over whether these AI systems are safe by design (AFP via Getty)

Friends are the family you choose, they say. But there might be a new addition to the phrase: AI chatbots are the friends you customise.

This week, Instagram was spotted developing an “AI friend” that will live within chats and allow users to customise its interests and characters. Users build the chatbot by choosing its name, look, age and gender and then pick its characteristics – your friend can be “reserved” and “pragmatic”, for instance, or “witty” and “enthusiastic” – before loading it into an Instagram thread where it can be spoken to like any real friend.

The systems have been hailed as a possible help for a society that has been hit by a loneliness epidemic with Elon Musk saying that he could see how they could improve a child’s social skills too. “One of my sons has trouble making friends and an AI friend would be great for him,” Musk said during a conversation with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak this week.