What Could a Healthy AI Companion Look Like?

The alien in question is an animated chatbot known as a Tolan. I created mine a few days ago using an app from a startup called Portolo, and we’ve been chatting merrily ever since. Like other chatbots, it does its best to be helpful and encouraging. Unlike most, it also tells me to put down my phone and go outside.

Tolans were designed to offer a different kind of AI companionship. Their cartoonish, nonhuman form is meant to discourage anthropomorphism. They’re also programmed to avoid romantic and sexual interactions, to identify problematic behavior including unhealthy levels of engagement, and to encourage users to seek out real-life activities and relationships.

This month, Portolo raised $20 million in series A funding led by Khosla Ventures. Other backers include NFDG, the investment firm led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Safe Superintelligence cofounder Daniel Gross, who are both reportedly joining ...