I think realistic simulations of social interactions would help many people - by providing a low pressure environment for socially awkward people to practice th

I think realistic simulations of social interactions would help many people - by providing a low pressure environment for socially awkward people to practice the skills you mentioned, before putting themselves out there in groups etc. - but realism is an absolute requirement. No current AI will do that for you, they are not good at roleplaying realistic humans, and they’re too nice. If you want a “practice date” to give you useful training that transfers to real life, your conversation partner needs to react to you just like a human would. Including negative reactions (not liking you, thinking you’re weird, faking a call from a friend to escape mid-conversation, and so on). But if you could make an AI that did all that, and it could also give you the sort of actionable feedback that is hard to get from humans, I think that has potential.