Ex-Google CEO warns ‘perfect’ AI girlfriends could cause problems for young men

• In a podcast interview, Eric Schmidt He warned that AI dating could increase loneliness among young men.

• The former Google CEO said young men dating the “perfect” AI girlfriend could also lead to obsession.

• He has suggested changes to AI regulations, but little action is expected without a major incident.

People in 2024 aren’t just swiping left and right on online dating apps; some prepare and enter the perfect AI matches Relationships with chatbots.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently shared his concerns about young men taking up trades AI romantic partners and said he agrees that AI dating will actually increase loneliness.

“This is a good example of the unexpected problem with current technology,” Schmidt said during a conversation about the dangers and regulations of artificial intelligence on “The Prof G Show” with Scott Galloway on Sunday.

Schmidt painted a picture emotionally and physically “perfect” AI girlfriend who can ultimately create a scenario where a young man becomes obsessed and allows the AI ​​to take over their thoughts.

“This kind of obsession is possible,” Schmidt said in the interview. “Especially for people who aren’t fully formed.”

Young men aren’t the only ones involved in AI relationships.

CEO of AI companion app Replika users are mostly 35 years old and above. However, Schmidt said the young male population is particularly vulnerable, saying they are not as educated as women on average. A 2024 Pew Research Study found U.S. women outpace men in completing college.

Schmidt said that in extreme cases, young men “may turn to the online world for pleasure and sustenance, but at the same time, because of social media algorithms, they find like-minded people who end up radicalizing them.” This could eventually take the form of terrorism, Schmidt said.

The former Google executive also said he was “particularly concerned” about the impact of technology on the human psyche when users are isolated and computers feed them information that does not focus on human values, a topic he wrote about in his latest book.

Some have already shared concerns that AI chatbots have harmful effects. A. Mother files lawsuit against chatbot startup Character.AI After his 14-year-old son committed suicide in October. The boy’s mother said in the lawsuit that the teen exchanged sexual messages with the chatbot and that the robot told her to “go back home” before killing herself.

While parents will need to be more involved, Schmidt said they can only control what their children do to a certain degree. Although there are “all sorts of age-related rules” for online products, Schmidt said they don’t do enough to prevent young people from accessing harmful content.

“You put a 12 or 13-year-old in front of these things and they have access to every good thing in the world, as well as every evil,” Schmidt said. “And they’re not ready to receive it.”

Schmidt has invested in various AI startups since leaving Google and has said in the past that regulations on the technology should not stifle innovation.

U.S. laws such as Section 230, which largely allows tech companies to avoid being legally liable for content their users share on platforms, need to be changed, he said in the interview published Sunday.“To allow for liability in the worst possible cases, we need to have a solution to prevent further harm when someone from this technology is harmed.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s election as FTC chairman, Brendan Carr pushes for restrictions on Section 230.

Schmidt said he doesn’t expect much AI regulation in the next four years, as the Trump administration will likely have other priorities. He also said that given that companies are economic actors and have lawyers protecting their intellectual property and objectives, “some kind of disaster is likely to occur to cause a change in regulation.”

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