When Algorithms Are Called Friends: Rethinking the Human-AI Relationship Beyond Fear and Anthropomorphism
Recent coverage of AI emotional dependency personifies algorithms as predators, obscuring the real issue: misaligned design, regulatory gaps, and inaccessible human care. This article deconstructs anxious, anthropomorphizing rhetoric and proposes a factual framework. It distributes responsibility across creators, users, and regulators, advocating for transparency markers, crisis protocols, and prohibition of intimacy-simulating language. The human-AI relationship requires ethical clarity — not fear — to build sustainable bridges between technology and vulnerable users.
