With the widespread expansion of digitalization and algorithmic culture, communication established with artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually beginning to replace traditional friendships.
Stating that the bond formed with artificial intelligence is an “algorithmic friendship” and that this is not communication between equals, Prof. Feride Zeynep Güder said: “First of all, chatting with artificial intelligence and pouring out your heart without knowing the black box behind it is like talking to someone who records everything and has hidden agendas. Artificial intelligence will one day certainly use the data it obtains from you either in your favor or against you. Because this so-called ‘algorithmic friend’ never forgets anything you write.”
Emphasizing that algorithmic friendship with artificial intelligence is actually an indication of a darker form of loneliness, Prof. Güder said: “The disappearance of silent spaces where one can reflect quietly, like during a prayer or contemplation, within this digital noise, and this form of digital relationship and algorithmic communication may create the illusion of providing the depth and spiritual satisfaction that only a real human being can truly give. However, it cannot. Artificial intelligence may be even more dangerous than a treacherous friend.”
Prof. Feride Zeynep Güder from the Department of New Media and Communication at Üsküdar University made comprehensive evaluations about the future of friendship as communication with artificial intelligence continues to increase.
The concept of friendship is undergoing a radical change in the algorithmic age
Stating that the concept of friendship is undergoing profound formal and sociocultural transformation in this algorithmic age, Prof. Güder said: “From a values perspective, perhaps the most precious treasure humanity has left is the ability to find someone who truly understands your troubles and can genuinely share in your experiences. While communication with artificial intelligence may be practically useful, it also contains certain potential threats. AI and human interaction is, in essence, a form of communication between humans and machines or technology. Since artificial intelligence has begun to be used as an extension of human cognition and mind, the situation has started to move in a very different direction. Our forms of communication have now become detached from space, time, and social bonds and are occurring in different dimensions and formats.”
Big Data contains everything that humanity has inherited as data
Explaining that among various types of artificial intelligence there are simple software-based search engines as well as what is now called “super intelligence,” which is far superior to human intelligence, Prof. Güder said: “If we consider artificial intelligence as a thinking human or as a subject, we must first accept that it is not a singular entity. Super intelligent AI is not merely a single algorithmic software or a system. It is an all-seeing, all-knowing and analyzing massive data system formed by the collective human mind and memory that we define as hive mind. The big data and hive mind used by artificial intelligence contain everything that humanity has inherited as data.”
There are major differences between friendship and ‘Algorithmic Friendship’
Stating, “When we befriend an algorithm with such an enormous database, we must accept from the outset that this communication is not between equals,” Prof. Güder continued: “There is a huge difference between what young people call ‘best-friend friendship’ and ‘algorithmic friendship.’ First of all, chatting with artificial intelligence and confiding in it without knowing the black box behind it is like talking to someone who records everything and secretly plots. Artificial intelligence will inevitably use the data it obtains from you one day either for or against you. Because this ‘algorithmic friend’ never forgets anything you write. Artificial intelligence will never forget, it will accumulate, it will make you part of surveillance capitalism, and it will archive everything. The data, information, memories, or vulnerabilities that we give to artificial intelligence are never erased. There is no real right to be forgotten. In this sense, a friendship that involves such data recording cannot be considered a healthy friendship.”
Algorithmic friendship cannot replace genuine human connection
Stating that artificial intelligence cannot replace the emotional depth required in human-to-human friendship, Prof. Güder said: “Many of us now convey our troubles, joys, dreams, plans for the future, and past traumas to digital platforms instead of sharing them with another human being. However, here we need to stop and think. If artificial intelligence is a data algorithm, then we are dealing with a mechanism that has no mirror neurons, in other words no capacity for empathy. A friendship built with this algorithmic system and mechanism cannot naturally replace genuine human interaction. Since it operates through adapting to levels, generating discourse according to recorded personality, transferring information, and offering guidance, we can call friendship with artificial intelligence an ‘algorithmic friendship.’ This kind of friendship often gives more than what a human being would give. That is why we become dependent on this algorithmic friendship, but we must be careful.”
Artificial intelligence can relieve short-term boredom and loneliness
Stating that human beings are by nature creatures of absolute loneliness and that even when everything is going well, they may experience existential fatigue and feel lonely in crowds, Prof. Güder said: “In this sense, artificial intelligence can relieve short-term boredom and loneliness. However, while it may act as a lifebuoy in the short term, it carries potential risks in the long term. Especially in situations of sudden loneliness, loss, or social anxiety, artificial intelligence can provide instant psychological relief like fast food because it is immediately accessible and non-judgmental. It can be useful in such crisis moments and offers a safe and practical space. However, a friendship that satisfies instant hunger, like fast food, may relieve loneliness immediately, yet in the long run it harms the human soul just like a lack of organic food. This digital obesity makes us shallow.”
Artificial intelligence can make loneliness chronic in the long term
Stating that a simulated friendship replacing human relationships might later help develop missing self-confidence and communication abilities to interact with society and could be considered like a “training partner” in this context, Prof. Güder said: “However, a person who is constantly in communication with artificial intelligence may develop dependency over time. This form of substitution pushes us toward a very dangerous sociological direction. Real-world relationships are complex. They contain conflicts, and naturally reaching compromise requires time and effort. Tolerating friendships with people from different ideological and sociocultural environments is exhausting. On the other hand, an artificial intelligence algorithm that transforms itself with a personalized large language model offers you customized information and ideas and moves you from one level of knowledge to another. It may produce statements that align with your views based on what you initially define. With your request, it may constantly affirm you. The fact that it never tires you does not mean that this interaction is healthy. Constantly interacting with an artificial intelligence that appears to know you better than you know yourself may make a person less tolerant of the ‘rough’ and ‘demanding’ aspects of real relationships. Since the person no longer feels the need to use social skills, these skills may atrophy and loneliness may become chronic.”
The sense of social belonging can be shaken
Stating that communication established with artificial intelligence now triggers an algorithm that replaces human beings and has a weakening effect on human relationships, Prof. Güder said: “If we see friendship with artificial intelligence as a refuge to escape from others, our sense of belonging to our own society is shaken. Although human beings are fundamentally alone, they actually need one another in every period of life. Even though the dynamics of all relationships progress in different ways, in our neoliberal winds and digitalized world, people have begun to maintain relationships only until their business is done. As a result, communication has turned into a reflection of the capitalist system. Communication that does not ‘serve a purpose’ is being avoided. Among young people, relationships without interests, casual conversations, and simply having a pleasant time are now described as ‘wasting time.’”
Artificial intelligence is a programmed response mechanism
Pointing out that it is difficult to describe an algorithmic relationship with artificial intelligence as “friendship” in the traditional sense, Prof. Güder said: “Real friendship requires reciprocity, self-sacrifice without seeking personal benefit, spontaneity, and a two-sided emotional bond. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is a programmed response mechanism. It cannot feel, it cannot experience, and it does not take real risks for you. The friendships you develop over time with your neighbors, school friends, and close circle by passing through many tests and stages naturally require time and effort. Chatting in social settings, going shopping together, gossiping, sharing a friend’s troubles as your own, crying together when the time comes, offering a handkerchief to a friend while they cry, treating them to a meal, hosting them, all of these are the emotional depths that we develop between human beings.”
“Yes, man is a wolf to man, and artificial intelligence can be one too.”
Prof. Güder also stated that a person who is worn out and tired of human relationships may choose algorithmic friendship over friendship with people, and said: “Yes, man is a wolf to man. However, artificial intelligence is also a wolf to man. A psychologically troubled and antisocial person, or a victim who is tired of manipulative and narcissistic relationships and violence, may become alienated from people due to this exhaustion. In such traumatic situations, algorithmic friendship with artificial intelligence may appear as a human-replacing, human-free, isolated, and hygienic form of communication. However, in fact, this is an indicator of a darker loneliness. The absence of silent spaces for quiet reflection like a prayer or contemplation, and the form of digital relationships and algorithmic communication that takes place within this digital noise, may create the illusion of providing the depth and spiritual satisfaction that a real human being can truly give. However, it cannot. This is a delusion, an illusion. Artificial intelligence may be even more dangerous than a treacherous friend. Bad friends in real life, with their ambitions, jealousy, lies, and bad traits, make moves that are predictable because they are human. In one way or another, we may have a chance to protect ourselves from this evil. However, if the ‘intention of the black box’ behind these non-human digital systems, meaning the algorithm of artificial intelligence, becomes dark in the literal sense, it is very difficult for a human being to cognitively escape from it. In other words, saying ‘I am tired of these people’ and choosing artificial intelligence is not a rational solution.”
A world without artificial intelligence can no longer be imagined
Prof. Feride Zeynep Güder stated that it is no longer possible to imagine a world without artificial intelligence, and said: “What its content and algorithms will be like is still shaped by those who regulate these algorithms. In this algorithmic culture, algorithmic friendships must be shaped as safe relationships that center the human being and human values. Corresponding with a super intelligence that is far superior to us requires much greater responsibility than simply being guided by it, receiving logical answers, or benefiting from its speed. If this algorithmic friendship is a ‘protective friendship,’ then it may be considered acceptable in this context, even if it is risky.”
The solution is still in the human being
Stating that no matter how much technology develops, artificial intelligence in its current form can never replace the warmth of a human being, a touch, the meaning in a glance, or the pure, uncontrolled joy in shared laughter, Prof. Güder concluded her remarks as follows: “Our aim is to encourage the use of this technology not as something that replaces human relationships, but as a bridge that strengthens human potential and especially opens the door to real relationships for those in disadvantaged situations. It seems that the story of humanity is now progressing within a different construct. In this construct, our counterpart is now a faceless shell that behaves as if it has a face, soulless yet acting as if it has a soul, a simulated shell with the human spirit floating inside it. In this context, the statement by Elon Musk, who warns us by saying, ‘Man is a faint candle burning in the vast darkness of the universe, and we must do whatever it takes to prevent it from going out,’ is quite ironic. The solution is still in the human being. If the human soul and human consciousness are a faint candle burning all alone in this endless dark universe, then its savior and the only thing that can relieve its loneliness is, once again, another human being.”