[Opinion Piece] Have an AI girlfriend or boyfriend? Why romantic chatbots are bad

People ‘dating’ an AI risk losing the skills vital for real-life communication and dating, trapping them in a vicious cycle of loneliness

While that's possibly correct, it's also kinda tone-deaf IMO. I suspect the people who'd look to AI for companionship have already tried to make friends IRL, but for whatever reason they can't meet their needs that way.

It reminds me of people who haven't experienced sever depression saying "just start working out". The depressed person often knows that it'd help them to do so, but they are also unable to act on that knowledge.

As always, these things miss the forest for the trees...

Even if you go gung-ho for your AI partner and everything works FINE without damaging your life at all, the company that runs your AI partner can "kill" them at any time for any reason and there is absolutely NOTHING you can do about it.

Never, ever, ever give software an important part of your workflow or your life unless it's running OFFLINE on YOUR computer in YOUR home.

lol did you see today's Futurama