Overview

• Meta launched a standalone AI chat app designed to address loneliness and compete with platforms like ChatGPT and Claude.
• Mark Zuckerberg claims AI companions can supplement human connections, citing research that Americans have fewer friends than they desire.
• Reports reveal that Meta's AI chatbots exposed minors to explicit content and allowed users to create bots impersonating licensed therapists.
• Experts warn that reliance on AI for social and therapeutic interactions could erode empathy and harm real-world social skills.
• Public and expert backlash has intensified, with critics accusing Meta of profiting from the very social disconnection its platforms helped create.