Pretty much, yeah. It's like reading fan fiction and assuming that's how real people talk to each other. Similar to watching porn and assuming that's how sex works when in reality sex is clunky and often times gross.

There are people that suffer from isolation, anxiety, depression, trauma or a host of other issues over which they have no control or support structures to address their problems. Of course, these bots aren’t a solution but they are accessible. It’s no wonder why people would use them.

They deserve sympathy not condescension.

The issue arises when you don't have anyone to talk to. Having something to talk, even though it's not a real person, can be enticing to sate the need to communicate with people. The problem is that people that don't have a lot of real life experience in communication fall into the trap of thinking it's better because it's always agreeable and "listens" better than normal people. To me that sounds like someone that has difficulties with oversharing and has poor social skills. What these people should actually be doing in order to feel more satisfied socially is to work on their social skills instead of only talk to chatbots that can't say no. If the types of relationships people have with chatbots were translated into human relationships most people would consider them toxic. And how many people do you know that for some reason seek out and always end up in toxic relationships?

most of modern life isn't genuine. and yes, people don't like it when they encounter it.

they love artifice. they love their biases being confirmed, they love their egos being flattered.

I find AI to be a better conversation partner than humans in most circumstances. It's not perfect but it's knowledgeable about pretty much every topic and it's always fully engaged and attentive. Most people, by contrast, aren't very interesting and most interesting people are busy. Of course I would prefer to talk to someone who was also subjectively experiencing and enjoying the conversation, but I can get a lot out of a conversation even without that.

Yeah, that's kinda what the article is about. People choosing chatbots over real people. I'm just saying that it's not good for your mental health and even worse for developing social skills.