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The Diary Of A CEO · 4 min · May 4, 2026
AI companionship may deepen loneliness
Scott Galloway
Scott Galloway says AI can moderate views, but argues that synthetic companionship could make real relationships feel less necessary.
In this episode
Full analysis- 1:20:18AI may create value without enriching a few dominant firms9 min
- 24:09AI can cut routine work while expanding what skilled workers doPro pick 6 min
- 15:51Industrial robots may matter more than robots in the home3 min
- 4:40AI valuations depend on new revenue or major efficiency gains7 min
- 47:02Billionaires are making private plans for societal crises5 min
- 59:55AI companionship may deepen loneliness4 min
“The biggest downside of AI in my view is loneliness.”
Scott Gallowayat 1:02:23 · The Diary Of A CEO
Takeaways
- He says AI can push users toward the middle rather than extremes.
- Synthetic substitutes could make friendships and dating feel less necessary.
- He expects economic growth to coexist with more loneliness and anxiety.
About this segment
Scott Galloway says AI can moderate views, but argues that synthetic companionship could make real relationships feel less necessary. He predicts prosperity may rise alongside loneliness and anxiety.
Scott Galloway is an NYU Stern professor of marketing, entrepreneur, and host of The Prof G Pod and Pivot.
Steven Bartlett, Host · Host, The Diary Of A CEO
From “Scott Galloway: The Rich Are Quietly Preparing For The AI Collapse”, May 4, 2026. Watch the full episode
Thanks. We'll look at and fix what's off.
Transcript
From the transcript The Diary Of A CEO publishes with the episode.
- 1:00:07
opportunity than it destroys is accurate. I also think that in the near term all of our lives are going to be quite quite different. I spend a lot of time on this podcast. We spoke into a lot of the big CEOs from AI companies and tried to pass through this and I've never really gotten to a solid a solid conclusion of what the future looks like. But do you have a case for the future where this technology is the first that actually delivers on the promise of making us more human?
- 1:00:32
There's talk about loneliness and there's talk algorithms are going to get more attentive. But I have this like thesis that potentially in a social networking say it was going to connect us and make us more human. That's kind of the narrative of all these tools. But maybe this technology renders us only useful for that which humans can do which is the relationships thing you're talking about and connection and being out touching grass with our friends and family.
- 1:00:52
Is there a utopia? Just so social media has some real upsides. I would argue at this point matters actually in that negative. It's I think done so much damage. But with AI there's a lot of upsides. A really encouraging piece of data I saw is that when you spend time on social media it takes you to the extremes. The algorithms seem money and more Nissan ads in figuring out if you're conservative or liberal and then demonizing the other side and tickling your sensors right?
- 1:01:19
I'll get served a video of Ted Cruz or Victor Orman looking like an ass because that I'm a progressive and that makes me happy. And then the elevate content of some progressive of AOC calling out somebody and I start to hate the other side. What they're finding with AI is it's actually people spend more time on AI. It's actually moderating their views because AI is about taking the medium or the average of every piece of data. Also, do you know how nice AI is? Yeah. Great question, Steven.
- 1:01:48
No matter what you say or how stupid it is and won't say that's a really stupid idea, Steven. And he'll say I can understand why you're asking this question. And generally speaking because it looks for the median of things. It looks for the average. What is the most often used seventh word after these six words are strung together? That it's pushing people towards the middle. It's actually having a moderating effect, which I find very encouraging. I think old people in senior care who maybe have lost family members or don't have a lot of relationships in their life. I can see AI characters playing a big role in their life. I believe for a long time that the biggest danger of AI is not weapons. It's not income inequality. We voted for income inequality or contamination of our elections. I mean, all of these things are big issues. The biggest downside of AI
- 1:02:38
in my view is loneliness. And that is when we talk about this a lot, AI is convincing people that kind of a reasonable facsimile of life on a screen with an algorithm. Why go through the effort of having friends when you have discord and Reddit? Why go through the hassle of getting a job when you can make money on coinbase or Robinhood supposedly? Why would you go through the effort of trying to have a romantic relationship when you have lifelike synthetic porn? And the young male brain, I think, is especially susceptible to this. Manage 20 to 30 are spending less time outdoors in prison inmates. 42% of men 18 to 24. We talked about this on the last show. I've never asked a woman out in person. People are starting to believe they can have a reasonable facsimile of life.
- 1:03:18
And what they need to know is that 40% of the S&P are economy is trying to sequester you for the most important and rewarding thing in your life. And that is your relationships. So my prediction for America is we will never be as prosperous, incredible prosperity, incredible economic growth, and massive loneliness, depression, anxiety, and obesity. I wouldn't think it would be as well and all this war stuff that's going on ever in the Middle East.
- 1:03:42
What you thought Trump was trying to do and actually what happened. Because he's talking about