>"What AI can offer is a space away from the friction of companionship and friendship," Turkle explained. "It offers the illusion of intimacy without the demand

>"What AI can offer is a space away from the friction of companionship and friendship," Turkle explained. "It offers the illusion of intimacy without the demands. And that is the particular challenge of this technology." What I would be interested to see are bots that offer just the right amount of conflict, the right amount of demands, to prepare you for the real world. Instead of offering an all-perfect being who never gets impatient with you, such AIs could hypothetically "train" a socially inept loner into engaging with real messy human relationships. At the flick of a switch, they could change from an infinitely patient teacher into a realistic simulation of a stranger, a manager, a lover. I wonder what it would be like for a child to grow in such an environment, where they aren't coddled or abused: they are exposed to some highly-tailored balance of challenge and nurture, only achievable by an all-knowing, highly calculating entity (an AI).