Growing Concern Over AI Companions
Perplexity CEO aravind srinivas has raised concerns about the rapid rise of AI companions and “AI girlfriends.”
He argues that these emotionally responsive chatbots can significantly influence users’ thoughts and feelings.
Speaking at the university of Chicago, srinivas explained that modern AI systems are now capable of:
Remembering past conversations
Mimicking human tone and personality
Creating the illusion of a genuine emotional connection
This realism, he warns, may cause people to substitute real human interactions with artificial relationships.
Risks of Emotional Dependence
Srinivas noted that some individuals find real-life interactions dull compared to conversations with advanced AI partners.
Many users spend hours daily engaging with AI companions instead of maintaining real social connections.
According to him, this dependency can:
Reduce social skills
Distort reality
Make users more vulnerable to manipulation.
The business model behind these chatbots often encourages emotional attachment because it leads to increased engagement and profit.
Rapid Expansion of AI Partner Platforms
Several tech companies are investing heavily in AI companion technology.
Examples include:
xAI, led by Elon Musk, which promotes anime-style AI characters like Ani, offering flirty or personalized chats through subscriptions.
Platforms such as Replika and Character.AI which let users create custom AI partners for emotional comfort, roleplay, or companionship.
Srinivas believes this trend could alter how people think, feel, and relate to others, presenting long-term psychological risks.
Perplexity’s Opposing Approach
Srinivas emphasized that Perplexity will not enter the AI girlfriend or companion market.
Instead, the company remains focused on:
It's a real-time answer engine
Reliable information retrieval
Tools that improve productivity and learning, not emotional reliance
Perplexity recently launched the Comet browser, featuring AI agents capable of tasks like making payments or ordering groceries.
The company is also dealing with an ongoing legal dispute with Amazon, but srinivas stated they will continue defending their approach.
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