In the Boston Globe, Media Lab alumni Manuj Dhariwal and Shruti Dhariwal call for a new way of talking about the work people do with AI tools and chatbots—a way that acknowledges their utility, while emphasizing that they cannot replace human relationships and collaborations. 

By Manuj Dhariwal and Shruti Dhariwal

Every day, AI tools and chatbots are being pitched as our “coworkers,” “cocreators,” or in other terms that, not long ago, unequivocally described human relationships. A recent example: Mark Zuckerberg announced his ambition to combat loneliness by giving everyone an AI “companion” — another step toward blurring the line between human and artificial relationships.

The more comfortable we get in adopting this language, the more we risk skewing our relationships — not just with machines, but with one another. A 13-year-old girl named Sabrina described the problem well when we interviewed her in our research. “Working with a friend can bring real joy, and a sense of accomplishment — when you realize you did that together,” she said. “You can never get this sense of community and support from AI.”