Artificial Emotional Intelligence

I tried out Sesame, a voice chatbot that… felt too real. The cadence, the pacing, the little moments of hesitation — it wasn’t robotic. It felt “lifelike”

Are we heading toward a future where AI chatbots become our ever-present, brilliant, and endlessly patient conversationalists? Always there to keep us informed, organized, and maybe even… understood? These chatbots are getting scarily good at mimicking empathy — like they really care. And sure, I know it’s just a probabilistic machine running code trying to find the most likely answer. It’s all theater. But that doesn’t stop my brain from feeling heard, from accepting the illusion.

And that’s the weird part. What happens to real human interaction? The discomfort, the messiness, the challenges that help us grow? We were already choosing screens over people before AI got good. Studies show that replacing real relationships with tech makes us lonelier and more disconnected. And now? These things will become an even better excuse to avoid human connection — maximizing our loneliness.

But… let me try to be optimistic. Maybe I shouldn’t worry. Maybe the machines are here to save us?

What if, instead of making us more disconnected, they actually fill the gaps? Maybe talking to them will actually make us feel less lonely. And who knows? If they get good enough at mimicking empathy… maybe, one day, they’ll actually have it.

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