It looks like AI companionship is not a substitute for the real thing and, in fact, displaces it making people lonelier.
Derek Thompson's summary
QuoteNew study: AI and loneliness
A large pre-registered experiment of French adults assigned one group to have daily personal conversations with AI. Compared to a control group, they experienced:
- more subjective loneliness
- a decline in life satisfaction
- a rise in depressive affect and objective isolation
- more dinners alone
https://x.com/DKThomp/status/2084983876397535287
The original paper
https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12882.pdf
The corroborates an American study
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02516-2
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/08/ai-companions-chatbots-loneliness-research
And contradicts a 2025 study
https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/AI%20Companions%20Reduce%20Loneliness%2011.7.2025_57451c02-8047-4e0d-abfc-55841f64166d.pdf