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I have two young kids and often watch them making friends in the playground. After playing alongside another child for a while, they would typically suggest a common activity \u2013 a game of catch, for instance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes, the other child would reject their overture. But despite being mildly crestfallen, my kids would usually try again, sometimes with a different child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Friendship requires courage and vulnerability. And that applies to adult friendships too. Someone must be the first to suggest a coffee date, a homecooked dinner or a trip together \u2013 and in doing so, risk rejection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But as we grow older, we seem to become more averse to emotional risk. Perhaps that is why the average age at which we meet our best friend is 21, according to a global study commissioned by Snapchat in 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Artificial intelligence has also changed the stakes. Sycophantic chatbots have become easy placebos for connection without the messiness of human relationships \u2013 no awkwardness, no disappointment, no need for reciprocity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As it is, several of my friends have begun to confide in AI, especially during sleepless nights when worries keep them awake. It has become their default 2am friend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But though AI can give you the right words at the right moment, it cannot journey with you the way a friend can. And the danger of over-reliance on AI is that over time, we may hold humans to machine standards and forget how to tolerate friction and imperfections, a prerequisite for human connection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n