It’s like taking something unhealthy and turning it up to 11.

The toys, plants, animals, characters will now talk back to them.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to ask why? A few people have made this point as if it's self evident, but what is unhealthy about it?

Well for starters an AI won’t challenge you and if there is an incentive to make the AI as pleasing as possible then people will become more and more isolated as the relationship with the AI is “better” in terms of not having negative feedback compared to having a real relationship.

Relationships with friends, family, and significant others are full of compromise and learning empathy to maintain that relationship.

But what happens when your primary relationships have no compromise? That you get whatever you want and can be however abusive you want without repercussions. You can see examples of this today without AI and those relationships are generally deemed by society to be “toxic”.

Living in your own private bubble of a AI product written by someone who’s primary goal is engagement won’t give you the tools to function with a group of other living people.

> an AI won’t challenge you

This seems like a shortfall of the current models, and not a limitation of AI companions in general.

> AI is “better” in terms of not having negative feedback compared to having a real relationship

I'd wager that most "real" relationships don't involve nearly as much critique as you're implying. Nobody wants to kill the happy juice their partner generates, whether their partner has skin or circuits.

Plus, there are plenty of other options - such as a councilor - who can provide much better and honest feedback than a personal relationship ever could. One of those compromises we make in a relationship with other meatbags is simply accepting some parts of our partners that we don't like.

Also celebrities.