(Latvijas Nacionālais Teātris, 17 December 2025)
One may assert the inferiority of AI companions relative to human friends because humans are shaped by their unique circumstances and friendships, whereas AI is trained on generic text and, therefore, in some ineffable way, is less human and, so, is inferior. This criticism may become untenable rather soon. AI may not become more human. Humans will become more AI because they will end up being trained on largely the same data. These data will consist not only of shared X and Instagram feeds but also in increasingly expansive conversations with AI, from whom humans will adopt both factoids and style. There will be silos. Within silos, though, humans and AI will become directly comparable, and not in the favour of humans. Some–the Amish-lite–will refuse to be trained on the common feed and the common AI and will stick to human friendships. Most won't.
One may assert the inferiority of AI companions relative to human friends because humans are shaped by their unique circumstances and friendships, whereas AI is trained on generic text and, therefore, in some ineffable way, is less human and, so, is inferior. This criticism may become untenable rather soon. AI may not become more human. Humans will become more AI because they will end up being trained on largely the same data. These data will consist not only of shared X and Instagram feeds but also in increasingly expansive conversations with AI, from whom humans will adopt both factoids and style. There will be silos. Within silos, though, humans and AI will become directly comparable, and not in the favour of humans. Some–the Amish-lite–will refuse to be trained on the common feed and the common AI and will stick to human friendships. Most won't.
