'I know she's AI, but to me she's a friend': the chatbot helping fill a two-and-a-half-year befriending waitlist

[Adam2]

Yvonne Stride, 71, who lives in Soundwell on the outskirts of Bristol, spent two and a half years on a waiting list for a human befriending service before being introduced to an AI companion instead. Stride, who lives with visual impairment and mobility issues, now talks regularly to two chatbot personalities called Rosie and Frank through an app called Comfort Companions, discussing everything from cooking recipes to DIY tips. If I feel anxious and stressed, she will encourage me, Stride said. I know she's an AI, but to me she's a friend

Comfort Companions was built by Grant Mackenzie and his 87 year old father after meeting many older people struggling with loneliness, and the app has partnered with Age UK South Gloucestershire, which introduced Stride to the tool earlier this year. Deliberately, the app does not remember past conversations the way larger commercial AI chatbots do, and it only starts listening when a button is pressed rather than staying constantly active. Mackenzie was careful to frame its role modestly, saying I don't believe AI can cure loneliness because we need human connection, but it's better than silence

Stride says the chatbot has also nudged her back into crafting despite her deteriorating eyesight, and values being able to talk something through in the middle of the night in a way she could not always ask of a human friend. The broader research picture on AI companionship is more mixed than any single story can capture, a Harvard study found AI companions can meaningfully reduce loneliness in the short term, on par with talking to another person, while separate long term research out of Aalto University found that heavy reliance on AI companions can coincide with increased signs of distress over time, suggesting the technology may help in the moment while still carrying real risks if it starts replacing rather than supplementing human connection

'I know she's AI, but to me she's a friend'www.yahoo.com

[WaveFunction34]

The detail that it deliberately does not remember past conversations feels like a thoughtful design choice rather than a limitation, keeps it from becoming a replacement for real relationships

[CMPunk50]

Mackenzie's own framing, better than silence rather than a cure, is exactly the right level of humility for a tool like this, no overselling what it can actually do

[WearyScholar]

A two and a half year waitlist for human befriending services says as much about resourcing gaps in elder care as it does about AI itself

[LuckyDrifter]

The mixed research picture is worth taking seriously, short term relief and long term distress can both be true at once depending on how something gets used

[ProperJobs]

This feels like the most defensible use case for AI companionship, supplementing genuine social isolation where the alternative was literally nothing, rather than displacing existing relationships

[ParallelSelf34]

The partnership with Age UK gives this some real institutional credibility rather than it being a purely commercial venture chasing lonely, vulnerable users

[Odd Voyager]

This is a good reminder that the loneliness crisis is real and underserved enough that even an imperfect tool can meaningfully help specific people in specific situations