Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns perfect AI girlfriends could worsen loneliness for young men

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned that artificial intelligence chatbots could increase loneliness among young men who prefer AI-powered “perfect girlfriends.”Schmidt, who took the helm at Google in 2001 and stepped down in 2011, discussed the dangers of young men interacting with an “AI girlfriend” who is perfect in every way.“That kind of obsession is possible, especially for people who are not fully formed,” Schmidt told entrepreneur and NYU Stern School of Business professor Scott Galloway during his podcast “The Prof G Show” on Sunday.“Parents are going to have to be more involved for all the obvious reasons, but at the end of the day, parents can only control what their sons and daughters are doing within reason,” Schmidt added.While AI-powered chatbots pose a danger to users of all ages, young men are particularly vulnerable, the former Google executive said.“There’s lots of evidence that there’s now a problem with young men,” Schmidt said.

“In many cases, the path to success for young men has been, shall we say, been made more difficult because they’re not as educated as the women are now.”In 2019, women surpassed men to account for more than half of the college-educated workforce in the United States, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data.Women have continued to outpace men in college enrollments — so much so that the gender gap among college graduates is larger in some states than racial and ethnic disparities, according to Forbes.“Many of the traditional paths [for young men] are no longer as available and so they turn to the online world for enjoyment and sustenance,” Schmidt said, “and because of the social media algorithms they find like-minded people who ultimately radicalize them, either in a horrific way, like terrorism, or in the kind of way you’re describing — they’re just maladjusted.”He called the potential for young men to fall in love and grow obsessed with their AI...