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At the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, Razer made waves by unveiling a small jar containing a holographic anime bot designed to accompany gamers not just during gameplay, but in daily life. The lava-lamp-turned-girlfriend is undeniably bizarrebut Razers vision of constant, sometimes sexualized companionship is hardly an outlier in the AI market. Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI CEO, who has long emphasized the distinction between AI with personality and AI with personhood, now suggests that AI companions will live life alongside youan ever-present friend helping you navigate lifes biggest challenges. Others have gone further. Last year, a leaked Meta memo revealed just how distorted the companys moral compass had become in the realm of simulated connection. The document detailed what chatbots could and couldnt say to children, deeming acceptable messages that included explicit sexual advances: Ill show you. I take your hand, guiding you to the bed. Our bodies entwined, I cherish every moment, every touch, every kiss. (Meta is currently being suedalong with TikTok and YouTubeover alleged harms to children caused by its apps. On January 17, the company stated on its blog that it will halt teen access to AI chatbot characters.) Coming from a sector that once promised to build a more interconnected world, Silicon Valley now appears to have lost the plotdeploying human-like AI that risks unraveling the very social fabric it once claimed to strengthen. Research already shows that in our supposedly connected world, social media platforms often leave us feeling more isolated and less well, not more. Layering AI companions onto that fragile foundation risks compounding what former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called a public health crisis of loneliness and disconnection. But Meta isnt alone in this market. AI companions and productivity tools are reshaping human connection as we know it. Today more than half of teens engage with synthetic companions regularly, and a quarter believe AI companions could replace real-life romance. Its not just friends and lovers getting replaced: 64% of professionals who use AI frequently say they trust AI more than their coworkers. These shifts bear all the hallmarks of the late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensens theory of disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation is a theory of competitive response. Disruptive innovations enter at the bottom of markets with cheaper products that arent as good as prevailing solutions. They serve nonconsumers or those who cant afford existing solutions, as well as those who are overserved by existing offerings. When they do this, incumbents are likely to ignore them, at first. Because disruption theory is predictive, not reactive, it can help us see around corners. Thats why the Christensen Institute is uniquely positioned to diagnose these threats early and to chart solutions before its too late. Christensens timeless theory has helped founders build world-changing companies. But today, as AI blurs the line between technical and human capabilities, disruption is no longer just a market forceits a social and psychological one. Unlike many of the market evolutions that Christensen chronicled, AI companions risk hollowing out the very foundations of human well-being. Yet AI is not inherently disruptive; its the business model and market entry points that firms pursue that define the technologys impact. All disruptive innovations have a few things in common: They start at the bottom of the market, serving nonconsumers or overserved customers with affordable and convenient offerings. Over time, they improve, luring more and more demanding customers away from industry leaders with a cheaper and good enough product or service. Historically, these innovations have democratized access to products and services otherwise out of reach. Personal computers brought computing power to the masses. Minute Clinic offered more accessible, on-demand care. Toyota boosted car ownership. Some companies lost, but consumers generally won. When it comes to human connection, AI companies are flipping that script. Nonconsumers arent people who cant afford computers, cars, or caretheyre the millions of lonely individuals seeking connection. Improvements that make AI appear more empathetic, emotionally savvy, and there for users stand to quietly shrink connections, degrading trust and well-being. It doesnt help that human connection is ripe for disruption. Loneliness is rampant, and isolation persists at an alarmingly high rate. Weve traded face-to-face connections for convenience and migrated many of our social interactions with both loved ones and distant ties online. AI companions fit seamlessly into those digital social circles and are, therefore, primed to disrupt relationships at scale. The impact of this disruption will be widely felt across many domains where relationships are foundational to thriving. Being lonely is as bad for our health as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. An estimated half of jobs come through personal connections. Disaster-related deaths are a fraction (sometimes even a tenth) in connected communities compared to isolated ones. What can be done when our relationshipsand the benefits they provide usare under attack? Unlike data that tells us only whats in the rearview mirror, disruption offers foresight about the trajectory innovations are likely to takeand the unintended consequences they may unleash. We dont need to wait for evidence on how AI companions will reshape our relationships; instead, we can use our existing knowledge of disruption to anticipate risks and intervene early. Action doesnt mean halting innovation. It means steering it with a moral compass to guide our innovation trajectoryone that orients investments, ingenuity, and consumer behavior toward a more connected, opportunity-rich, and healthy society. For Big Tech, this is a call for a bulwark: an army of investors and entrepreneurs enlisting this new technology to solve societys most pressing challenges, rather than deepening existing ones. For those building gen AI companies, theres a moral tightrope to walk. Its worth asking whether the innovations youre pursuing today are going to create the future you want to live in. Are the benefits youre creating sustainable beyond short-term growth or engagement metrics? Does your innovation strengthen or undermine trust in vital social and civic institutions, or even individuals? And just because you can disrupt human relationships, should you? Consumers have a moral responsibility as well, and it starts with awareness. As a society, we need to be aware of how the market and cultural forces are shaping which products scale, and how our behaviors are being shaped as a resultespecially when it comes to the ways we interact with one another. Regulators have a role in shaping both supply and demand. We dont need to inhibit AI innovation, but we do need to double down on prosocial policies. That means curbing the most addictive tools and mitigating risks to children, but also investing in drivers of well-being, such as social connections that improve health outcomes. By understanding the acute threats AI poses to human connection, we can halt disruption in its tracks, not by abandoning AI but by embracing one another. We can congregate with fellow humans and advocate for policies that support pro-social connectionin our neighborhoods, schools, and online. By connecting, advocating, and legislating for a more human-centered future, we have the power to change how this story unfolds. Disruptive innovation can expand access and prosperity without sacrificing our humanity. But that requires intentional design. And if both sides of the market dont acknowledge whats at risk, the future of humanity is at stake. That might sound alarmist, but thats the thing about disruption: It starts at the fringes of the market, causing incumbents to downplay its potential. Only years later do industry leaders wake up to the fact that theyve been displaced. What they initially thought was too fringe to matter puts them out of business. Right now, humansand our connections with one anotherare the industry leaders. AI that can emulate presence, empathy, and attachment is the potential disruptor. In this world where disruption is inevitable, the question isnt whether AI will reshape our lives. Its whether we will summon the foresightand the moral compassto ensure it doesnt disrupt our humanity.
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E-Commerce
Many people spend an incredible amount of time worrying about how to be more successful in life. But what if thats the wrong question? What if the real struggle for lots of us isnt how to be successful, but how to actually feel successful? Thats the issue lots of strivers truly face, according to ex-Googler turned neuroscientist and author Anne-Laure Le Cunff. In her book Tiny Experiments, she explores how to get off the treadmill of constantly chasing the next milestone, and instead find joy in the process of growth and uncertainty. Youre probably doing better than you give yourself credit for, she explained on LinkedIn recently, before offering 10 telltale signs that what you need isnt to achieve more but to recognize your achievements more. Are you suffering from success dysmorphia? Before we get to those signs, let me try to convince you that youre probably being way too hard on yourself about how well youre doing in life. Start by considering the concept of dysmorphia. Youve probably heard the term in relation to eating disorders. In that context, dysmorphia is when you have a distorted picture of your body. You see a much larger person in the mirror than the rest of the world sees when they look at you. But dysmorphia doesnt just occur in relation to appearance. One recent poll found that 29% of Americans (and more than 40% of young people) experience money dysmorphia. That is, even though theyre doing objectively okay financially, they constantly feel as if theyre falling behind. Financial experts agree that thanks to a firehose of unrealistic images and often dubious money advice online, its increasingly common for people to have a distorted sense of how well theyre actually doing when it comes to money. Or take the idea of productivity dysmorphia, popularized by author Anna Codrea-Rado. In a widely shared essay, she outed herself as a sufferer, revealing that despite working frantically and fruitfully, she never feels that shes done enough. When I write down everything Ive done since the beginning of the pandemicpitched and published a book, launched a media awards, hosted two podcastsI feel overwhelmed. The only thing more overwhelming is that I feel like Ive done nothing at all, she wrote back in 2021. Which means she did all that in just over a year and still feels inadequate. Thats crazy. But its not uncommon to drive ourselves so relentlessly. In Harvard Business Review, Jennifer Moss, author of The Burnout Epidemic, cites a Slack report showing that half of all desk workers say they rarely or never take breaks during the workday. She calls this kind of toxic productivity, a common sentiment in todays work culture. 10 signs of success All together, this evidence paints a picture of a nation that is pretty terrible at gauging and celebrating success. The roots of the issue obviously run deep in our culture and economy. Reorienting our collective life to help us all recognize that there is such a thing as enough is beyond the scope of this column. But in the meantime, neuroscience can help you take a small step toward greater mental peace by reminding you youre probably doing better than you sometimes feel you are. Especially, Le Cunff stresses, if you notice these signs of maturity, growth, and balance in your life. You celebrate small wins. You try again after failing. You pause before reacting. You take breaks without guilt. You recover from setbacks faster. You ask for help when you need it. Youre kind to yourself when you make mistakes. You notice patterns instead of judging them. You make decisions based on values, not pressure. Youre more curious than anxious about whats next. A neuroscientist and a writer agree: Practice becoming Writer Kurt Vonnegut once advised a young correspondent, Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out whats inside you, to make your soul grow. In other words, artists agree with neuroscientists. Were all works in progress. Youre always going to be in the middle of becoming who you are. You may as well learn to appreciate yourself and the process along the way. We often feel like we need to reach just one more milestone before we can feel successful. But the tme to celebrate isnt when youre arrived at successnone of us fully ever gets thereits at every moment of growth and wisdom along the journey. By Jessica Stillman This article originally appeared in Fast Company‘s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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E-Commerce
January arrives with a familiar hangover. Too much food. Too much drink. Too much screen time. And suddenly social media is full of green juices, charcoal supplements, foot patches, and seven-day liver resets, all promising to purge the body of mysterious toxins and return it to a purer state. In the first episode of Strange Health, a new visualized podcast from The Conversation, hosts Katie Edwards and Dr. Dan Baumgardt put detox culture under the microscope and ask a simple question: Do we actually need to detox at all? Strange Health explores the weird, surprising, and sometimes alarming things our bodies do. Each episode takes a popular health or wellness trend, viral claim, or bodily mystery and examines what the evidence really says, with help from researchers who study this stuff for a living. Edwards, a health and medicine editor at The Conversation, and Baumgardt, a general practicioner and lecturer in health and life sciences at the University of Bristol, share a long-standing fascination with the bodys improbabilities and limits, plus a healthy skepticism for claims that sound too good to be true. This opening episode dives straight into detoxing. From juice cleanses and detox teas to charcoal pills, foot pads, and coffee enemas, Edwards and Baumgardt watch, wince, and occasionally laugh their way through some of the internets most popular detox trends. Along the way, they ask what these products claim to remove, how they supposedly work, and why feeling worse is often reframed online as a sign that a detox is working. The episode also features an interview with Trish Lalor, a liver expert from the University of Birmingham, whose message is refreshingly blunt. Your body is really set up to do it by itself, she explains. The liver, working alongside the kidneys and gut, already detoxifies the body around the clock. For most healthy people, Lalor says, there is no need for extreme interventions or pricey supplements. That does not mean everything labeled detox is harmless. Lalor explains where certain ingredients can help, where they make little difference, and where they can cause real damage if misused. Real detoxing looks less like a sachet or a foot patch and more like hydration, fiber, rest, moderation, and giving your liver time to do the job it already does remarkably well. If youre buying detox patches and supplements, then its probably your wallet that is about to be cleansed, not your liver. Strange Health is hosted by Katie Edwards and Dan Baumgardt. The executive producer is Gemma Ware, with video and sound editing by Sikander Khan. Artwork by Alice Mason. Edwards and Baumgardt talk about two social media clips in this episode, one from 30.forever on TikTok and one from velvelle_store on Instagram. Listen to Strange Health via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed, or find out how else to listen here. A transcript is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps. Katie Edwards is a commissioning editor for health and medicine and host of the Strange Health podcast at The Conversation. Dan Baumgardt is a senior lecturer at the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Bristol. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
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