TIME | This month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued that AI will solve the loneliness crisis. “I think people are going to want a system that knows them well and understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do,” he said, envisioning chatbot companions and therapists as the remedy for modern disconnection.

In her latest essay for TIME, Kim Samuel argues that Zuckerberg is right to diagnose social isolation as a critical problem—but that his AI prescription is a dangerous illusion.