What I Think About When I Think About AI Social

Originally published in Chinese on July 15, 2025. The three systems of AI social AI and people: companionship and relationships AI-and-people social is what most products are trying now that AI has grown stronger. One part is the companionship released by models' understanding of human language and emotion, a broad category. Its underlying drive comes from better model capability and more precise understanding of users. It generalizes into more than relationships or social life, and in a larger frame it concerns how to define a future in which people and AI live together. We can't reach a conclusion over a range that far today, only discuss AI and people's social life within limited settings. The state of competition and its challenges Competition in this range is fairly intense now. It does not depend on changes in model capability itself. It depends on how far people's demand for AI companionship (relationship) extends. But by the results, the daily actives of this kind of product are falling. Pure language and images, without more varied sensory stimulation, have limited power to move people. So pure social faces certain challenges in this range, and that may be why these AI products are in a tight spot at the moment. AI assisting people's socializing: a better experience and new needs