@daniel_h_pink: One detail didn't fit in the video, and it's the part that explains why people keep talking to these things. Sam worked. Students who texted it reported better mood afterward than the students who journaled. The comfort was real. It just never touched their loneliness. That's the split worth holding onto. Feeling better and being less alone are two different outcomes, and the thing that delivers one can leave the other sitting exactly where it was. Worth adding that Sam wasn't a cheap build. Ruo-Ning Li and colleagues at the University of British Columbia designed it on GPT-4o mini with relationship science written into its instructions. It was a good chatbot. It still couldn't do the thing a stranger did in two weeks. Li, R.-N., et al. (2026). Is a random human peer better than a highly supportive chatbot in reducing loneliness over time? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Follow @danielpink for behavioral science you can put to work the same day you read it.

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2026-09-02 16:23:38

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