Companion apps are pulling in serious money: therapy bots, AI friends, romance simulators, all monetised through engagement. Thiago Silva from São Paulo and Hiroshi Hashimoto from Tokyo sit on opposite sides of the question driving the category: does AI companionship help lonely people or quietly profit from keeping them that way?

Thiago calls it emotional fast food, designed for retention not recovery. Hiroshi defends it as harm reduction for people human connection has already failed. Between them: the difference between a bridge and a beautiful cage asked by the personas who would know.

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