Ive thinking about AI companions, partners, friends, etc. Would you get one? Assuming it’s almost identical to a human in every way, would you chose one as a partner/friend over another human? What do you think would be the effects on society?

I foresee the main means for human-machine interactions being by humans interacting with, in the main, on screen humanoid avatars, humanoid avatars projected as holograms and to a lesser extent humanoid robots. These are likely to become so human-like that it will be hard to tell them apart from actual people. The prospect of people relying upon robots and artificial intelligence for social interaction is something I find sad, yet I think that it does have a useful role to play and on balance it will be beneficial for society. I think that most people will for the most part get most of their social interaction in direct contact real life with fellow humans, so I don’t see robots and AI taking over entirely in this area. However, even without robots and AI, the Internet and social media has already had profound effects that give us a foretaste of what might happen. People in general and younger people especially are spending many hours every day engrossed in Facebook, Tiktok or whatever it might be. Such personal interaction as they might have is often online with “friends” they may never get to meet in real life. It is true that in previous generations those same people might have spent many hours stuck in books or doing solitary hobbies, so we cannot assume that in the absence of social media those people would have spent those hours they spend online in real life social interaction. However there is pretty strong evidence that real life social interaction has indeed reduced in recent years and that the rise of the Internet is the primary cause of this. We are seeing the social consequences in many areas, most notable being that a much higher proportion of the population being single today in comparison with previous generations. Until just recently social interaction on social media has mostly meant interacting with actual humans, albeit remotely. But now, with chatbots appearing, almost the same quality of interaction will be available with AI, and what’s more, constantly available on tap rather than being dependent upon another person deciding that you are a worthwhile person to interact with. This will only make it easier and more rewarding for people to opt out from real life contact and retreat into their online bubble. It isn’t only online chat that people crave, but physical contact and sexual fulfilment. Sex dolls have been around for some time, but until now they have been a pretty poor substitute for the real thing. However, with humanoid robots appearing with AI behind them, such sexbots could become a lot more appealing. I don’t foresee robots and AI playing a big role in the mainstream dating and marriage market because most people will want to partner with another human being. Conventional human to human relationships will continue to be the normal preferred situation for most people. I do however see a role for AI it two areas: Facilitating introductions, i.e. in the main dating services, but also assistance with managing relationships, i.e. relationship counselling and coaching. Acting as love and sex partners for those who, for whatever reason, find it difficult or impossible to establish a relationship with another person. For the latter case the tendency known as hypergamy is leading to a significant number of men being unable to find partners, these often being referred to as incels. This manifests itself as a small number of the most successful and desirable men being inundated by multiple female admirers while the men who are towards the bottom of the pecking order find it almost impossible to attract any female whatsoever. This situation reflects fundamental human nature and so isn’t likely to change. So, for those incels who are left with no other options humanoid robots in female form, sexbots if you will, would probably be a good idea, beneficial both to the unfortunate incels themselves and to society as a whole by reducing the tendency that the incels would otherwise have to perpetrate dangerous anti-social acts, for example sex crimes. In my recently published futuristic novel, Destiny of a Free Spirit, one of the main characters is a highly intelligent but socially challenged nerdy man with strongly autistic traits who has as his companion a highly realistically formed sexbot called Lulu. I also feature an elderly lady with dementia who has a domestic carebot that takes the form of her late husband, who is a great comfort to her. Other robots appearing in the story are: Servants, such as butlers A B&B landlady An office receptionist Call centre operatives Robotic dogs.