AI as a Life Service (AIaaLS)
The concept of AI as a Service is nothing new, with the likes of OpenAI (amongst others) providing access to their latest models for a monthly fee. For some users (and companies) this has definitely been of benefit, and it obviously provides revenue to the hosting company (after all, running the models isn't cheap).
The level of value a user / company gets from AI is always subjective and does make me question if this is similar to the initial days of gold mining in the USA, where it was those selling the tools that got rich (not those doing the actual mining). While AI has the potential to be a significant benefit to its users, the reality at time of writing is that the benefit for the majority is still to appear.
Expanding from the initial use-cases of LLMs / Generative AI you have the use-case of being a virtual companion (friend). It's a natural step-up from being a service you can ask questions to (in order to get what are hopefully correct answers), but relies not only on models being trained on good data, but the model not heading in a direction that creates a risk to life (which sadly isn't its strong point at present). When done correctly, it's easy to envisage users paying monthly for access to a virtual friend (or group of friends) that provide human-like feedback / conversations / are easily paused when you have had enough / don't want to talk anymore. With their memory being (subjectively) better than those in real life, their personalities being tweakable to fit what makes you happy, and there being little / no ask from them in your direction, there is definitely an appeal to some.
Stepping this up further you have a use-case for virtual counselling (look out BetterHelp). Being able to choose a style of counsellor (based on the underlying model / their response characteristics) that can be there for you 24/7 and (in theory) provide you guidance / feedback on improving your life, is a very tempting proposition. Of course this would also come with a monthly fee, providing another revenue stream to those with the tools. Depending on the effectiveness, this potentially becomes another monthly expenditure that people don't want to give up (more so than the virtual friends if see feel / see positive benefit from it).
Journeying on from the virtual counselling we arrive at virtual worlds (of our own creation), and possibly the most dangerous / most dependency-creating. The ability to describe a world you want to see (including everything within it) and have it created for you in front of your eyes (typically in seconds). The land, the sky, the sea, the buildings, the people, and even the style of cutlery on a table, there is no limit any more. No longer bound by physical reality, you can create the perfect world you want to reside in (all for a low monthly cost). Even the people within this world will be able to interact with you (in the way you want them to), with the possibility to bring in your virtual friends (and your virtual counsellor).
Why do I view the above as concerning you might ask, and the answer is that it creates an addiction (that may become incredibly difficult to withdraw from), and removes a key human trait that is required for survival: adaptation.
From virtual friends to virtual worlds, it creates an experience that is 100% tailored to the individual but without the safeguards of time-limiting. The chemical reactions in the human brain that are experienced when a person experiences happiness / satisfaction are typically balanced in life (i.e., the rough with the smooth), which provides the underlying motivation for everything from doing the washing-up to a session at the gym (read up on the limbic system for more info). Being able to have constant rewards without any real effort is a very tempting proposition (i.e., getting paid regardless of doing any work) but it has to be balanced in order to not destroy drive / motivation.
With the constant gratification / enjoyment comes the inevitable risk of withdrawal. Depending on the level of immersion you have into AI this can be something ranging from difficult (i.e., your virtual friends have left for good and you won't speak to them any more), to soul-destroying (i.e., your perfect virtual world that you have lived most of your life in for years is now gone and you only have actual reality to live in from now on). Similar to that of drug withdrawal, your body has to adapt to how things really are, and for some that may be a step too far (in the same way that going cold-turkey from a serious habit can be fatal).
The current approach most people have in life is a cycle of continuous learning that creates / evolves a view of the world (and everything in it). From our earliest memories we interact with those around us, not only meeting those we want to continue to interact with, but learning how to interact with those we would prefer not to. We learn about the fairness of life (and how in most cases it isn't due to the system created around us), and we learn the basics of working in order to afford the lifestyle we desire. We experience great moments of happiness, and we experience terrible moments of sadness (i.e., when a loved one dies). Throughout all of this, we become more rounded as a person as we better understand the world we live in (and how to cope with it).
When we shift to a model where our lives are a mix of work combined with a virtual everything (with no time for the real world), we lose that adaptation / growth we would get from the real world, and depending on how long we lack that for, the transition to it (viewing this from the perspective of a child who grows up with the AI world being their primary) will be brutal. This also creates an even tighter dependency on employment, as it isn't just a case of requiring food / drink / housing etc to survive, your daily fix of a better (virtual) life is required.
The lesson here, remember that while our actual world isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, it isn't going to improve for us (or those who come after us) if we step away from it / try to live outside of it. Life teaches us lessons that we only get by being part of life itself, and the longer we try to avoid them, the more difficult it becomes when they happen.