While loneliness is one of the factors driving many youths and young adults to pursue AI companions, Dr Michael Coombs, a medical doctor who, in the past, served as a chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health, believes wholesome strategies should be pursued to address this issue.
“We have to start in the home, in the family. If we promote the traditional family, the biblical family of mother and father in a marital relationship as a foundation, and there’s parenting as it was intended to be by both a mother and a father, then that would be one of the surest ways to address this loneliness issue,” he said.
It is not known to what extent Jamaicans are interacting with AI companions, but the Ministry of Health and Wellness was forced to pull one AI chatbot following public backlash in 2024. Christian youth group the Love March Movement and the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) demanded its removal on the basis that it was facilitating inappropriate conversations about sex and sexuality with children without parental supervision or consent.
