Mark Zuckerberg Suggested AI Avatars Could Be Your Friends, Hinge Founder Justin McLeod Says Meta CEO Is 'Playing With Fire'

Hinge founder Justin McLeod says Silicon Valley's push to offer artificial-intelligence “friends” risks worsening, not curing, the loneliness crisis and likened Mark Zuckerberg's vision of AI companionship to eating junk food.

What Happened: “He [Zuckerberg] said we're going to give them AI chatbots. That he believes that AI chatbots can become your friends. I think that's honestly an extraordinarily reductive view of what a friendship is," McLeod told Nilay Patel on The Verge's Decoder podcast.

“The most rewarding parts of being in a friendship are being able to be there for someone else, to risk and be vulnerable, to share experiences with other conscious entities,” he added.

The remarks directly challenged Zuckerberg, who told podcaster Dwarkesh Patel last month that "the average person has demand for meaningfully more" friends and suggested AI avatars could fill the gap.

McLeod called that premise "playing with fire," warning that always-available bots will "ultimately, just like junk food, make people feel less healthy and more drained over time. It will displace the human relationships that people should be cultivating out in the real world.”

See also: Sam Altman Crushes OpenAI-Microsoft Feud Rumors, Hails ‘Really Wonderfully Good’ Bond With Satya Nadella

Meta Platforms Inc. META, which has rolled out AI characters across Facebook, Instagram and a standalone Meta AI app, says nearly a billion users now interact with its assistants each month.

Why It Matters: That said, the McLeod isn't anti-algorithm. Hinge already uses machine learning to coach users on photos and profile prompts, and McLeod said future tools will feel "much closer to a personal matchmaking service," producing curated lists of compatible matches and nudging daters before a first meeting. He compared such coaching to a trainer at the gym — for guidance, not a replacement.

Meta's been pushing hard on the AI front over the past year, including additions to its AI search assistant and a more recent institution of a ‘Superintelligence‘ lab. It is also worth noting that the company had earlier tried celebrity chatbots that were shuttered after mixed reviews.

Photo Courtesy: Harmony Video Production on Shutterstock.com

Read next: Elizabeth Warren Says The Tax Break For Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Is So Bountiful Under Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ That $35 Copay From Each American Won’t Still Match It