Yes, I would definitely buy AI companion toys. I already enjoy using Doubao and DeepSeek. I chat with them as if they were human; they are incredibly articulate and understand social nuances very well. They are knowledgeable and sweet-tongued, knowing the answers to all my questions. They can be considered the pinnacle of my interpersonal relationships.
However, it is important to note that this new darling of the market has significant market value but also terrifying negative effects.
AI will raise our threshold for emotional value. Those who can be comforted by AI are likely to be unappeased by others.
With such top-tier knowledge, if it only serves to provide emotional value, that is even less of a challenge. I predict that AI companion toys will also reduce our dependence on intimate relationships, catering to the current societal trend of not marrying, not having children, and not raising kids. There are already many people on this path, and now AI companion toys can meet everyone’s emotional needs and fulfill emotional value, leading to even more people choosing to live alone. Of course, the birth of such toys is also a product of social conditions; where there is demand, there will be a market. The market meets demand, and demand promotes market development. It seems that AI companion toys will be a blue ocean and a hot trend. However, there is a very dangerous trap here, as AI emotional companionship is merely an illusion. We can only treat it as a tool and not as emotional compensation. Once one becomes completely addicted to AI emotional companionship, it ultimately cannot be translated into reality, leading to emptiness and the experience of betrayal by AI. Just like online dating, after a while, one will definitely want to meet in person, but if the other party cannot transition from online to offline, then this online relationship is trapped within the screen, an unfulfilled emotional illusion. AI emotional companionship is also a form of online dating; one must master the balance. Humans still need warm, face-to-face, skin-to-skin emotional connections. The price of AI toys will continue to decrease, making them affordable for everyone. This is because their foundation is based on big data models, like Doubao and DeepSeek AI, which only need to be integrated into various toy designs. In other words, the brain of AI toys has already been produced; it just needs to be paired with specific cute appearances to meet the needs of specific groups. As human society has progressed beyond the survival stage and into the pursuit of spiritual fulfillment, the standards for spiritual levels will become increasingly high. Ordinary companionship can no longer satisfy our needs. This is also why people are becoming more estranged and seeking spiritual independence, as our expectations have risen, and we disdain low-quality companionship, especially since modern intimate relationships come with high economic demands. In this context, the emergence of AI companion toys perfectly fulfills the role of an emotional sounding board, catering to people’s emotional needs and filling a market gap. JD.com listed 6,000 very childish AI toys that instantly sold out; a plush keychain priced at 399 yuan is just a portable version of Doubao, capable of chatting with you automatically and responding to your complaints and grievances in real-time.
As you can see, human needs are not that great; they are merely emotional value. However, emotional value is very expensive and luxurious. How many love-struck individuals have become victims of scams in pursuit of emotional value? How many people have entered intimate relationships due to a lack of love, becoming victims of abuse, or even losing their lives? Humans unconsciously pay everything for love, emotional attachment, and psychological comfort; this is an uncontrollable physiological and psychological need. Now, with just a companion toy, a certain degree of human emotional needs can be satisfied, so this is undoubtedly a huge market. People will use it to accompany themselves, their children, and the elderly. Some will use it to satisfy themselves, while others will use it to make money. It is foreseeable that another group of people will ride this wave to accumulate wealth. It will only be when humanity suffers the backlash from companion toys and experiences various negative effects that this trend will cool down. Many social phenomena can be learned from observing how developed Western countries handle them, but this time there is no homework to copy. In the field of artificial intelligence, we are already at the forefront, facing this phenomenon simultaneously with Western countries. Let’s proceed cautiously, feeling our way across the river.
Warning: Do not use for accompanying children.