Julie Zhuo · 9 min read · AI & Product
What would make AI truly social?
Read the original on lg.substack.com →
The article explores the decline of social gatherings like dinner parties over recent decades and argues that AI agents could help reverse this trend. While current AI excels at transactional 'husband-y tasks,' the author contends that truly social AI needs to handle the more nuanced work of organizing, coordinating, and maintaining our social lives. The author shares a personal experience using AI agents to plan a college reunion dinner as a proof of concept.
Key Takeaways
- Dinner party attendance has dramatically declined — from 7.1 per year in the mid-1970s to 43% of people not hosting or attending any in the past year.
- Current AI is better suited for one-off transactional tasks ('husband-y tasks') than for the ongoing, relationship-oriented coordination work ('wife-y tasks') that social life requires.
- AI agents are becoming capable enough to handle social logistics like scouring contact info, sending invites, coordinating calendars, and publishing event pages.
- The best AI social tools will integrate invisibly into existing communication patterns (e.g., group chats) without requiring behavior change.
- Products like Instinct are beginning to offer agent-powered group coordination features, signaling a growing category of socially-focused AI tools.
Excerpt
In the mid-1970s, Americans hosted or attended an average of 7.1 dinner parties a year. Explains why in Mad Men, people were always glammed up over glasses of wine. By the late 1990s, dinner party attendance nearly halved, according to survey data from Bowling Alone . It’s gotten even more dire. In the last year, 43% of people said they had neither hosted nor attended a dinner party! Sure, sure, this all makes sense. I mean, life today is busy! And restaurants are convenient! And a bunch of us live with our parents. Also, do you know how much work…