[Melting_Harps]

> I don't buy it. I'm an introvert but happily married now. But I can still see the appeal of a very personalized AI

That doesn't surprise me, some of the most loneliest people are married after all, hence why extra martial affairs have been monetized from everything from online porn/camsites to Ashley Madison--with married men being targeted demographic.

I guess my point is that for those who cannot find a way to engage with another Human in person, this seems like the only way to 'conform' to social norms while not being depressingly alone. This maybe modern darwnism playing out in the 21st century where all external stress factors have been mostly alleviated in affluent Western societies, because it is the undeveloped World who is keeping the species going fertility wise, but confining the genetic pool to such non-diversity has its issues, though.

But as I said, personally if left to my own devices I can go weeks without speaking to anyone and be entirely fine and jump right back into the fray when I need/feel to: oddly enough when most were locked down during the pandemic and 'going crazy' from isolation I was an 'essential worker' and continued everything but my gym/clubbing/dating life (I saw my friends, also essential workers, in person on a regular basis): only to get burned out by 2021 and hide for a Summer in the Adriatic Sea in a remote island almost entirely by myself--a few close friends would occasionally come to check up on me so we swam and bbq'd at the beach near my house.

It took me a day or two when I returned to normal civilization, I forgot how loud it was to be in a city, but was entirely fine and started dating again by Fall of '21.