Alt Text

The frenzy over the ChatGPT technology, an AI known for its witty and sometimes nonsensical responses to users’ prompts, seems to be waning. However, a far graver industry is taking shape: the business of pretend friends.

Experts predict that the ‘friendship-as-a-service’ sector could reach a market capitalization of $5 billion by 2024, given the rate at which loneliness and desperation are growing in society.

“At first, everyone was gaga over ChatGPT,” commented tech analyst, Dale Singleton. “But then people realized that having a conversation with the AI was like talking to a particularly thick parrot with a thesaurus. Now, the industry is moving on to creating pretend friends for people who can’t make real ones.”

Tech companies are reportedly hiring teams of failed novelists and disgruntled stand-up comedians to write scripts for these pretend friends.

“We’re looking to create friends who are just disappointing enough to be believable,” said one company executive. “For instance, ‘Tom’ will forget your birthday but make up for it by sending you a funny cat video a week later.”

While industry experts are hailing this as a bold new frontier in the technology sector, others are less impressed. “I already have enough pretend friends on Facebook,” said one skeptical user. “At least they don’t send me cat videos.”

AInspired by: ChatGPT mania may be cooling, but a serious new industry is taking shape