AI Companions: A Solution to Loneliness?

Have you felt alone despite being in a crowded place or with your friends? If your answer is yes, then you are not alone.

A whopping 73% of Gen Z and Millennials feel lonely often. Experts have named this phenomenon as the ‘Loneliness Pandemic’.

This is now becoming a leading problem which is affecting the mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of an individual. The worst part? It is not just young people who face this problem. Old people have faced this problem for a long time, and things are getting worse.

With the rise in AI and its technology, we have a ray of hope. We have seen how it is shaping the world. AI has the potential to open countless doors to innovation. People have high hopes for AI-powered chatbots. But can they solve this problem or make it worse?

This is what we are going to explore in this blog. Firstly, we will talk about the factors which might be behind this. After that, we will go ahead and discuss how AI can help with decreasing the effects of loneliness.

If you find this interesting then stay with us and keep reading.

What Are The Factors Behind Loneliness?

Loneliness is one of the biggest problems that we are facing in the current world. The fact that 2.4 billion people feel lonely quite often means we are doing something wrong.

One thing is certain, all this did not happen overnight. There are many things which have contributed to people feeling this way. But one event has acted as a catalyst, we are talking about the pandemic.

Due to the pandemic, people have experienced several problems that they might not have faced otherwise. All this has left its mark on people. Besides COVID-19, we will talk about the factors that have played a major role in the rise of loneliness.

• Social isolation

During the pandemic, when everyone was stuck at their home. They found ways to do things without leaving their home. But even after the end of the pandemic. Many people are still suffering from the side effects of the pandemic.

When we talk about GenZ this is particularly true. They have spent most of their prime years at their home which has created problems with their communication skills.

As they lack a social group that people of their age group should have. This creates a problem when it comes to creating a circle of people with whom you can spend time and enjoy yourself, GenZ was not able to do it.

• Lack of support system

A support system is a group of people who you can rely on when you need them the most and they will not disappoint you. A human needs to have a reliable group of people. In the research, it is seen that people who have a good support system live longer, healthier, and have a higher quality of life.

The reason why people are getting lonely could be because of many reasons. One of them is a lack of time and mental space. People themselves don’t have enough internal resources to provide for someone other than themselves.

• No meaningful connection

We see people posting their pictures with their friends and followers on various social media platforms. But it is actually how it looks?

The answer is no. We all have been the victims of thinking that their picture-perfect life is as shiny as they make it. But the truth is that most of the things which are on social media are fake.

The pictures that you see are filtered and edited. The places that you see are not as good as they look in the picture. We have started comparing our lives with others which is not healthy at all.

• Struggling with mental health

Thanks to social media and its awareness campaigns, the stigma around mental health and its problems is not rigid anymore. People struggling with anxiety and depression find it extremely difficult to stay motivated to do even the most mundane tasks.

If people are suffering from extreme levels often feel suicidal. So it is important to seek medical intervention. Before the problem gets out of hand.

How Does AI Help With Loneliness?

AI has the potential to make this world a better place. Artificial intelligence and its application have made things better, faster and more efficient. People are getting more and more innovative with its use. One of its creative uses is creating chatbots which are powered by AI. This means that these chatbots can collect, analyse, predict the response and modify it according to the user’s preference after talking to it for a time duration.

There is a list of things that make an AI companion an interesting choice.

• 24/7 availability

Unlike humans, chatbots are available 24/7 without any problem. They don’t get tired, so you can talk to them as long as you want without worrying about all these things.

• No judgement

Most people don’t want to talk to someone because they don’t want to get judged and mocked. This is where the AI chatbot can prove to be useful. Most of these chatbots are programmed to be kind and empathic towards people.

And the fact they are AI, not humans, they can not judge their users.

• Customisable

People are getting more and more experimental with AI chatbots. Many chatbots have the option to be customised as per user requirements. You can create their character and decide how they are going to look, sound and talk. Along with all this, you can make a persona from scratch, as per your desires.

• Talking Buddy

In our lives, we want someone with whom we can share our secrets and normal day-to-day conversations, a collection of mundane things, small rants, little joy, and many more things that make life better.

And sharing these things with someone can make it better. Many of us don’t have the luxury to talk to people about them. A chatbot can help with that by not listening but also responding how you like.

Conclusion

Our discussion about AI companions: A solution to loneliness? Has come to an end. Here, we talked about the factors which are behind increasing loneliness among people.

Then we shared how AI chatbots have the potential to reduce loneliness among people with the help of their top-notch creative technologies and artificial intelligence.