I disagree in part and I say that really sadly, but I genuinely think many people will be completely ok with having "AI friends" if let say it was absolutely or close to 1:1 for a human (which should be the case someday) as in good-looking humanoids, you might want to see how a very old person (>80 years old) behave when you put ElevenLabs in a flawless manner, it can be hours of convo daily without stopping, the "joy" they feel by this companion is quite real, at least it's felt.

We might even reach the point where having AI companions somehow will become essential and primary, even with an already fulfilled social life.

I've had "real friends" completely online, never met IRL, those were actual friends that I still talk to a decade later, and had countless evening of fun and random talks, in the end, if they happened to be AI (and let say deepfaked to the point you can't even know), I don't think it would have changed anything, it's still felt the same way, it's still helpful the same way, it's still a "bond".

I can't really make up my mind about it, but I'm certain we will have AI stuff behaving 1:1 with humans, including the graphics and flaws.