Loneliness crisis sweeping America could be as deadly as smoking, surgeon general warns

Eugenia Kuyda defended AI companion bots during the interview with Fox News Digital and argued that dating app Replika is just one of many possible solutions to loneliness. Credit it to the rise of technology, political polarization or even the pandemic, but loneliness is on the rise. It's an epidemic with consequences so severe that Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warns they could be deadly. "We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It's a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing," Murthy said, per The Associated Press.