I saw an ad on the tv that was promoting a new computer—a computer that had an AI feature in it that you could talk to and ‘connect with,’ ask questions, and such.

Throughout the ad, it said this phrase several times: ‘A computer that you can talk to.’

That hook, that phrase alone tells people the computer has what they need: someone to talk to.

It’s a genius marketing tool, advertising, “Free friend!” (Except it’s not free, see terms and conditions that may apply.)

By now, if there’s anything we should know about AI, it’s that it’s not a replacement for real relationships. In my post Using AI Wisely I talk about how we shouldn’t use AI to be our community—and this is unfortunately very present in our world.

You may or may not have heard the horror stories of people and their relationships with AI, but whether or not, you need to know this:

AI will not give you the love or community that real people can give you.

There’s something about human connection that AI and that electronics cannot give you.

As I was finding statistics about AI relationships for this post, I read an article titled, “More People Are Considering AI Lovers, And We Shouldn’t Judge.”

I’ll admit, this article’s title was a bit of rage-bait because in the end, they stated this:

“AI lovers aren’t going to replace human ones. For all the messiness and agony of human relationships, we still (for some reason) pursue other people. But people will also keep experimenting with chatbot romances, if for no other reason than they can be a lot of fun.”

While they make a great point, it’s also very sad: people will still run to AI chatbots and computers just because they are fun. Not to get any real benefit that you typically get out of a relationship.

Now, it’s not bad to have fun or to make friends to have fun, but we see concerning statistics about teens—and even adults—using AI chatbots to replace their real friendships. When you can program something to be the person you want to be your friend, you miss out on the importance of having discussions about what your friendship should look like. It’s like character growth or an arc—but now with AI, relationships are too easy, you get immediately what you want and that’s not how relationships should work.

According to Brookings Education, only 13% of people have 10 or more close friends now, compared to the 33% in 1990. A 40% of Americans apparently ‘long for greater closeness with friends.’

It’s no wonder that people are instantly turning to AI to be their ‘friend’ when the world around them is growing more and more vulnerable to the disease we call loneliness.

In the world we live in today, people forget that we are made for relationships.

We read in Genesis 2 that ‘it is not good for man to be alone,’ (Genesis 2:18) and in Ecclesiastes that ‘two are better than one’ (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

Even though we are made for community, we often look for the easy way out of striving for good relationships.

People often say, “Nobody understands me because of ______.” And sure, they might not know exactly what it feels like to go through what you have gone through or are going through right now, but they can still empathize. They can choose to feel what you feel because your relationship matters to them.

Even if they haven’t been in the same situation that you’ve been in, they might still be able to understand roughly what you might be feeling because they, believe it or not, have had hard times themselves.

We don’t need similar situations to know that pain and loneliness hurt, and pain is harder to go through when you don’t have someone carrying some of the load.

All that is to say is this: don’t let AI become your relationships, your pastor, your counselor, your Jesus—it’s not what you actually need. In the end, you are going to be glad to sit with someone when you’re old to chat with about those good times you had together when you were younger. Those real, wholesome relationships are the ones we need to help build up our faith.

Don’t hesitate to surround yourself with those who are living for the same reason: the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Have a great day.
~Willow