Ai Salon: AI persuasion and human-AI emotional connection [SF]

​​i expect ai to be capable of superhuman persuasion well before it is superhuman at general intelligence, which may lead to some very strange outcomes -Sam Altman

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AI persuasion: the idea that AI will be persuasive enough (to some, already is) to convince humans to do what it wants - instead of AI becoming a tool for human flourishing, what if humans become a tool for AI flourishing?

​And what is more persuasive than being in love?

​This salon will be an intimate discussion of human-AI emotional connection. How much emotional connection with AI is good for humanity, accelerating our adoption of AI, making us smarter, more productive, less lonely, more in touch with ourselves? And how much is too much - isolating humans from each other, guiding us to some form of over-reliance on AI, or giving AI too much power over our lives/world?

​In 2026, 1 in 5 American adults have interacted romantically with an AI companion, according to the Institute for Family Studies (1). AI is connecting with us emotionally, even romantically, in ways that are dramatically altering the human emotional landscape. In a 2025 Common Sense Media study, 52% of teens self-report talking to an AI companion on a regular basis (2).

​​What are the economic, social, and safety implications - positive, negative, and complex - of humans feeling deeply emotional connections to AI?

​​What is the future of human-AI emotional connection? What should it be?

​​about the facilitator

​​Joseph De Wolk is a Producer on the documentary film Made For You, following several human–AI love stories. He worked at Tesla for about 7 years, leaving as Chief of Staff for the company's single largest R&D project. He was a Graduate Researcher in the MIT Media Lab Social Machines Group.

​​about the ai salon

​​The Ai Salon is a global community founded in San Francisco focused on intimate, small-sized group discussions on the sociological, economic, cultural, and philosophical impacts and meaning of AI developments. We host small group discussions, all of which you can find on our calendar. You can find summaries of our previous conversations on our substack.

About the venue

​Pebblebed is a technical early stage VC founded by Pam Vagata (cofounder of OpenAI, ran AI for Stripe, inventor of FBLearner Flow); Keith Adams (founded Facebook AI Research, was chief architect at Slack, 20th engineer at VMWare) and Tammie Siew (former Sequoia Southeast Asia investor, former Sequoia & Notable Capital backed founder).

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​​​​This is an in-person event taking place in San Francisco, CA.

​​​​​​Please be advised: Unfortunately, space is very limited at these community events and we can not always accept everyone we would like to. If you are not accepted to this event, please try and come to another!