Imagining the Digital Future Center reports on ‘The Rise of AI Companions’
www.elon.edu
A new survey finds that 27% of U.S. adult internet users have social and emotional interactions with artificial intelligence systems, with a third of those users considering their AI bot as a friend.
  • Wakko@hell.cloudEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    I think you’re on to something. I think the next logical question to ask is - “What proportion of post-graduate non-Whites land in what kinds of roles?” Is there a reason this demographic is using AI companions more that correlates to the kinds of jobs they’re doing?

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      That was one thing that I wondered about for a moment, like, maybe you have people working very specific types of fields—I’d seen some papers in, like, psychology and stuff talking about human-AI interaction, and maybe this is a really hot thing to be doing to be doing in that field—but this survey was specific to “companion” uses, which I don’t think that would likely include professional use the way it was defined here:

      The people who have used LLMs for social, emotional and personal purposes are known as “AI companion users” and a representative sample of 1,000 of them were surveyed to discover how they use their social bots, the nature of their relationships and the impact of their encounters with these systems.

      • Wakko@hell.cloudEnglish
        1·
        6 days ago

        I don’t think it’s professional use either. I’m suspecting structural racism - the people drawn to companion AIs are likely highly educated but unable to use their education fully in their current role. Just my gut speculation. But I’m curious if there’s enough data to show that kind of correlation.