Meta hypes AI friends as social media’s future, but users want real connections

Young people don’t need AI friends, they need real ones

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com Don Carpenter is president of the board of directors of the Maine-based Rural Youth Initiative. Meg Taft is the initiative’s executive director. Mark Zuckerberg’s latest vision for the future — where AI friends replace human ones — is not a solution to the loneliness epi…

Meta hypes AI friends as social media’s future, but users want real connections

Two visions for social media’s future pit real connections against AI friends.