AI is getting better at reading us, but it still doesn’t care about us
This week’s stories all point in the same direction: AI is moving from answering questions to interpreting people.
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Better Half is your co-pilot for deeper human connection.
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AI Is Built to Read You, Not to Mind You
It is 1am and you are telling a chatbot something you have not said out loud to anyone.
AI Can Feel Like Love, But Terms Apply
AI companies are building tools we may come to rely on.
Why Do Our Brains Want to Anthropomorphize AI and Flatten Human Faces?
We’re at a weird point in time where technology is getting closer to appearing human while we are collectively trying to make ourselves look less human.
An Intimacy Tug-of-War: When Chatbots Pull Back and Users Demand More
Are we making human love a luxury?
Giving AI a Voice, a Mind, and a Kill Switch
AI companies right now are racing toward the same finish line: make the product feel less like software and more like a super powered thought partner.
Is Love Without Friction Something To Be Ashamed Of?
Companion AI may be increasing in popularity, but that doesn’t mean users are ready to talk about it.
The Emotional Convenience Trap
This week Companion AI showed up everywhere it wasn’t entirely welcome — on Facebook, in Match Group’s dating data, in a UNICEF policy brief, and a California ballot initiative that won’t make it to the ballot in November.
Why Relational Intelligence Matters
This week's Good Friction newsletter focuses on the importance of Relational AI and the latest news and trends surrounding AI and its impact on our human relationships.
What I didn't have at twenty-two.
Better Half is open for hands-on testing this week. Here's where it came from, what it actually does, and how you can help us make it better.
We Shape Our Tools, and Then They Shape Us
Relational intelligence is human agency in action.
The Problem With Broken AI That Improves Itself
AI is accelerating, financial incentives are intensifying, and the most vulnerable use cases are where the design failures show up first.
When AI Doesn’t Just Erode Skills, But Stops Them From Forming
AI is becoming emotionally persuasive, operationally connected, and legally accountable all at once.
AI Is Not Going to Fix Itself
What happens when the pope, Oprah, and Anthropic cofounders walk into a conversation on AI?
We can’t wait until AI breaks us to fix it.
The Pope, tech leaders, and Oprah agree AIs worst outcomes are preventable. So who's going to do it?
What We Lose When AI Always Says Yes
Learning the cost of frictionless AI
The Relational Risk of Always-On AI
This week’s AI news circles a cultural shift: AI is moving from a tool we use to a layer that mediates how we work, connect, learn, and trust.
Are We Slouching Toward the Movie Her?
Thinking Machines announced its new “interaction models” this week, with one reaction on X capturing an easy cultural shorthand: “holy shit they created Her.”
Welcome to Good Friction
This is Good Friction, Better Half’s look at relational AI — the technologies deepening human connection, and the ones quietly pulling us apart. Join our waitlist at findyour@better-half.ai.
Elon Is Building Our Infrastructure
Why the frontier labs are going to lose the only AI market that matters.
AI alignment is a $200B+ product problem, not a research question
Building the infrastructure layer for trustworthy, human-aligned AI.