How to Make AI Serve Human Connection

Key points

Heavy ChatGPT use is linked to higher loneliness when used for companionship or support.

In-person interaction has fallen, fueling loneliness, polarization, and lost trust.

AI can aid health, education, and civic life but also risks deepening social disconnection.

The solution is AI that strengthens human ties through transparency and accountability.

Earlier this year, an OpenAI study reached a troubling conclusion : Heavy ChatGPT users are more likely to report loneliness than non-users. The correlation between usage and feelings of social disconnection was strongest among people who leaned on the large language model for companionship and emotional support. The findings echo warnings from scholars, including Sherry Turkle of MIT , that “relationships” with machines