Signal President Meredith Whittaker has made a stark statement about the nature of AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude: they are not conscious beings, and they are not your friends. Speaking in a recent interview, Whittaker emphasized the psychological distance people should maintain from these systems.
The warning comes as LLM-powered chatbots become increasingly human-like in conversation. Many users report feeling emotionally connected to their AI assistants, treating them as confidants. Whittaker's intervention cuts through the anthropomorphism to highlight a critical truth: these systems are statistical models, not sentient beings.
For the wider AI industry, Whittaker's position underscores a gap between how AI is marketed (friendly, helpful) and what it actually is (a computational tool with no inner life). The statement has sparked broader discussions about digital literacy and how societies should relate to AI.
