Ai Salon [SF] x FAR Labs : The Risks of Emotional Reliance at Scale

​Expert Series: AI & Collective Wellbeing (Pilot Session)

​📣 FAR.Labs and Ai Salon have partnered up to pilot a new series of events focused on moderated, single-threaded conversations about AI safety and adjacent topics. We're currently piloting three types of expert series, starting with Series 1:

1. AI Risk Narratives & Public Outreach
2. AI Policy & Institutional Reform
3. AI & Collective Wellbeing

​📌 Topic Overview

As AI companions become more capable and widely deployed, the societal risks of their widespread adoption are no longer hypothetical. These systems are already reshaping how millions of people meet their emotional needs, and the implications of this reach far beyond individual well-being.

This salon looks at the systemic risks of AI companionship, especially as emotional reliance on AI systems scale. It also examines the genuine benefits people report, from reduced isolation to increased access to emotional support, and how to reconcile those benefits with safety concerns.

Who bears responsibility when a deployed system optimizes for user retention at the cost of human connection? How do we evaluate harm when damage is diffuse, gradual, and experienced as comfort? Does AI companionship weaken the capacity for conflict resolution and friction in human relationships, and could this reduce collective resilience? Alternatively, for people who lack access to adequate social support, how can developers preserve the value of AI companions while managing the risks that come with deploying these systems at scale?

Join us to explore 3 questions:

1. ​When does AI companionship support human connection, and when does it start to replace it?

2. ​How do we evaluate harm when the damage is gradual and the experience feels like relief?

3. ​What responsibility do designers, clinicians, and policymakers share when these systems scale?

​🗓️ Logistics

​⏱️ Come early to grab dinner and connect! Dinner will be served by FAR.Labs around 5:45 PM, while the Salon discussion will run from 6:30 - 8:00PM, followed by optional networking from 8-8:30pm.

​📍The Salon will be hosted in the 2nd Floor Seminar room, directly across from the kitchen.

​🚨 To facilitate smooth and cohesive conversations, please arrive no later than 6:30pm, which is when the conversation will begin.

​🔎 About Ai Salon & FAR.Labs

​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.

FAR.Labs is a co-working hub in downtown Berkeley dedicated to supporting the AI safety research community and related fields. It's operated by FAR.AI, an AI safety research non-profit. At FAR.AI, our mission is to ensure advanced AI is safe and beneficial for everyone. We spark much-needed technical breakthroughs through our in-house research team and targeted grants to academic research groups. We also bring together policymakers, industry leaders and academics to foster a coordinated global solution for safe AI development.

​Please be advised: Unfortunately, space is very limited at these community events and we can't always accept everyone we'd like to. We base acceptances based on levels of interest and passion demonstrated in registration question answers. If you are not accepted to this event, please try and come to another!