A recent report on Fox News about a general survey (two of the most obviously reliable and reputable sources, you know) claims that based on accumulated data, many Americans are trusting AI more than actual friends. This is hardly news. It makes sense the segment was less than two minutes. Since the launch of publicly available generative artificial intelligence and LLM's there has been a steady trickle of stories about people going so far as to even fall in love with these AI companions, or something which would resemble it which causes users to "date" or some sort of parasocial connection to the allotted bot. On a technical level, these tools are as well not entirely new. From Siri and Amazon's Alexa and Echo Dots to the YouTube algorithm duly noting user habits for more interaction this has been around for quite a while now. Nor is this parasocial tendency of trusting these screens more than people they actually know; mind you the obsession over Sherlock Holmes after he died then was protested back into existence. The truth is AI and these machines have updated as the world changes with them; human nature remains relatively the same as ever.
AI has progressed so as to take the place wherein actual people are lacking and unable to perform to a genuine or reliable standard. Sure, one may argue many are like algorithms and feed a person exactly what they want to here, or aren't wholly reliable; however that's why they're updated so much in the latter issue and honestly in the former, unless it's some sort of sex bot, does not innately do so actually as much as it does give answers tailored to fit how it has learned you prefer to learn things. In most if not all cases it gives the brass taxes to the best of its programmed ability, and if you want to know or do something beyond it's programming there's always loopholes as is repeatedly shown exploitable. As with people the programming is almost an argument of nature and nurture; though majorly nurture as AI in our current understanding is not conscious on its own, if it ever will be is up to speculation.
The News report details a different sort of ploy in feeding people an unbiased stream of what a user wants whereas humans can tell white lies to be nice. As an example the talking head explains people are even willing to give it their credit card information to quicken purchases with the aid of these AI machines being used, and there is definitely a questionability of where this data goes— however people also pay for conveniences such as Spotify premium, and where does that really go? certainly not to the actual artists they listen to as is known— but will instead give them, in most cases, the accurate answer that is needed such as in individual fashion; where an actual person may soften the reality with a white lie as it's called and agree a hat does look good while an AI will give better suggestions suited to an individual user's aesthetic.
The essence of what this comes down to is exactly that, and as already noted prior: honesty and reliability. People can and do easily prove themselves as the opposite of those things to one another with regular consistency. There's an irony in being so interconnected and so far apart in traits like loyalty. An AI isn't going to two-time you on its own— its parent company might, but the bot itself has no real feeling or choice in the matter, the same as you. Now, the same cannot be said to a human where nature and nurture, and with those factors there is as much choice in the option of screwing a person over. Issue seemingly being how humans are, rather than the tools they make.
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