Why AI Can't Fix Our Loneliness

The largest subway advertising campaign

in New York City right now isn't for the

new iPhone, a new movie, or even a

politician. It's for a fake AI friend.

And though this might sound crazy, I

think this is just the beginning.

Welcome to Provoke and Inspire, where I

look at culture and current events by

asking what would Jesus think and what

would Jesus do.

A startup called friend.com just spent

over a million dollars plastering subway

stations and train cars across all five

burrows advertising an AI pendant you

wear around your neck. It's powered by

Google's Gemini and it's designed to

listen, comment, and keep you company

during the day. In other words, a

machine that pretends to be your

companion. And here's the part I find

fascinating. People have been defacing

these ads, spray painting over them,

writing things like, "This is sad and we

need real friends." You see, deep down,

we all know this is so dystopian. But

why are we here? Why does an AI friend

even seem like a good idea in the first

place? I think it's because we are

lonelier than ever. 73% of Gen Z say

they feel alone sometimes or always. And

yet, the internet provides unlimited

connection. And yet we are starving for

community. You see, I think the problem

goes a whole lot deeper than technology.

The Bible begins with a God who says,

"Let us make mankind in our image." This

idea of our image, right? God, the

father, the son, the spirit, they exist

in community, in perfect relationship.

To be human is to be relational. As it

says later in Genesis, it's not good for

us to be alone. That longing you feel

isn't just a glitch in evolution. It's

the fingerprint of God on our souls. So

when we remove God from the picture,

what's left? Relationships become

utilitarian. You're valuable if you meet

my needs. If not, I simply move on. And

social media amplifies this. We've

replaced I think therefore I am with I

post, therefore I am. And now in a

culture of distraction and isolation,

people are literally looking to machines

to pretend to care about them. Here's

the irony. We don't need AI friends. We

need real friends. But in order to get

them, we need to get back to the basis

of authentic community, one that is

built on sacrifice and love rooted in

something bigger than ourselves. What we

ultimately need, what our culture

ultimately needs is God. Because without

him, every substitute will eventually

collapse under the weight of our

longing. And when I see these silly

subway ads and the graffiti scrolled

across them, I hear the cry of a

generation, one that has grown up in a

me centered social media saturated

culture and realize that it is bankrupt,

that it is not leading to real community

and genuine connection. As followers of

Jesus, we need to not succumb to these

same pressures and patterns. We need to

create and foster authentic community

and then offer that hope to a world that

is desperate for it. Most importantly,

as followers of Jesus, we need to preach

the truth that people are not accidents.

That serving yourself is not the best

way forward. That we have a God who in

of himself is the basis of community and

that he created us with that desire and

that we can only create it and give it

to others when we find it in him first.

And so, yeah, we are resorting to some

ridiculous solutions to a desperate

situation. Followers of Jesus, we have

the real solution. And now more than

ever, we need to speak up. Thanks for

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for everything else. That's it. Peace.