A study from the University of British Columbia reveals that college students who texted strangers felt a 9% reduction in loneliness, compared to only 2% among those who interacted with a Discord chatbot powered by ChatGPT-4o mini. The research, involving 300 first-semester students over 14 days, highlights the importance of human connection, as Ruo-Ning Li notes, "making people feel momentarily happy is not that hard," indicating AI's limitations in alleviating loneliness.