AI makes it easier to simulate connection, can tech deepen human relationships instead?
Let’s be honest: AI is getting eerily good at sounding human. It can craft hyper-personalized content and emails, and handle entire conversations. It’s also made sales outreach noisier and eroded trust in once-reliable channels like email, chat, and even voice—and crazy enough, video. But it’s so seductive and fast. It’s learning and adapting faster than ever. And it’s not going to stop: in Q1, it already represented the majority share of global venture capital funding.
But one thing AI still can’t fabricate is a real, trusted human relationship. These can’t be made up or scaled with prompts. They’re built through shared experiences, mutual trust, and real-world context.
And yet, in today’s business world, precious human connections are slipping through the cracks. They’re buried in inboxes, lost in forgotten LinkedIn threads, siloed in the minds of your team and stakeholders. The right lead, investor, or candidate is often just one intro away, hidden in the network you already have. LinkedIn is great if you’re an individual building an audience but it fails to unlock the collective relationship capital of an entire company.
I’m David, CEO of The Swarm. We’ve built a new relationship mapping technology, and our mission is to make relationships and company networks more visible and actionable.
Here are a few things I’d love to discuss here:
The current state of AI’s ability to simulate relationships: where it helps, where it hurts, and where we should intentionally keep it out of the way
Whether tech can automate parts of business relationships—and which parts actually make sense to automate
How to use existing tools to map and activate an entire company network
Real-world tactics for humans: warm intros, investor activation, client referrals, and more
And the big questions:
— Will AI-to-human relationships become the norm?
— Will AI-to-AI relationships start replacing us entirely?
— Can we still use tech to amplify real trust and connection, instead of just faking it?
Replies
The Swarm
Exciting convo, David. Olivier here, co-founder at The Swarm
AI is moving insanely fast, no denying it. For example, I created a fake video of myself with an AI avatar last week, and it was quite convincing. Next month, it'll probably be impossible to tell the difference...
But in the rush to automate everything, we’re losing the thing that actually moves the needle: real human connection.
We’ve seen it firsthand. The most valuable intros, deals, hires—they don’t come from cold outreach. They come from someone who knows someone. And yet most teams have no idea who’s connected to who, or how to tap into it.
That’s why we built The Swarm—to help teams see the network they already have and actually use it.
We’re not anti-AI. But we are pro-relationship. Because the truth is: the best things in business still happen person to person.
Big questions ahead, and we’re here for them! 🐝
minimalist phone: creating folders
Hey David, of course, you can establish a really good relationship with AI (especially because AI doesn't push you away and isn't rude to you – so you build a more positive relationship with it faster than with some confrontational person).
For me personally, the distinguishing feature between relationships with humans and AI will be the fact that, with a human, I'll know that the emotional harm I'm experiencing can affect the person more than a machine, and therefore I'll empathize more with a human than with AI/PC.
The Swarm
@busmark_w_nika I love that take. But is it still a "relationship" or is it an "interaction" with AI?
I think relationships should remain human-to-human mostly, precisely because of the human component. I also think the lines get blurred when the human user doesn't know if they're talking to, hearing from, or watching an AI or a person. Impersonation is already the biggest threat IMO with deepfakes, fake news, etc.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@olivier_roth I am not sure when it starts to be a relationship or interaction when it comes to a human towards AI.
Some people can become so lonely and cut from humans that they may have a relationship with AI. If there is some fanatic who will create a perfect (like perfect) partner in the machine, behavioural patterns, definitions, and perceptions of relationships will begin to change, many questions will begin to arise (ethical questions), and I think that such people will be found.
I think there will be multi-level relationships depending on entities like:
Human – Human
Human – Machine (non-AI)
Machine – Machine
Human – AI
AI – AI
AI – Machine etc.
So how do you reduce the creepiness/tone deafness of AI outreach while also scaling? It seems like these things are oppositional.
Like, sincere intimacy and connection requires authenticity and trust, both things that take time.
If I reach out to people with intimate details about them that they didn't disclose to me directly to demonstrate "familiarity" but it's merely simulated, is that progress?
From a different lens, will the proliferation of human-to-AI relationships harm how people show up in their human-to-human connections? Or will people be able to differentiate between the two. Just because people have pets doesn't mean that they treat their children like small animals (most of the time).
@chrismessina agreed that applying the same playbook of mass outbound spray-and-pray to your relationships that have taken years to cultivate is a very short-sighted approach (even though some growth hackers are bound to do it).
I think of the AI here as the most amazing assistant you've ever had.
It knows all of your relationships, from weak to strong, and makes proactive suggestions for how to nurture and deepen the ones you care about. Reminding you of specific details to include from your conversations together, recommending ways to catch up based on shared interests etc.
For business relationships, having the understanding of your colleague's networks can help to open doors and shift towards a culture of everyone in the firm supporting each other with the connections they can make.
The key point is that AI won't be in control of the relationships, the human who has the relationship will.
i try to keep tech in check when it comes to building trust. nothing beats a real conversation.
It’s wild how convincing AI can sound now. But people can still tell when something’s missing. i think that’s where trust lives.
Chatsimple
Yes. AI has taken (WIP) that warmth out of everything.
Black Mirror vibes.
Now business works more on trust/relatinship
The Swarm
@vinayraj_1988 That's right. The biggest check we need to put on AI is the use we make of it. If something can be built, it WILL be built. Placing relationships back at the center is essential IMO.
Now there are incredible use cases for AI-to-AI "relationships", for data retrieval/exchange/analysis that doesn't require humans in the loop. But for sales, recruiting, networking, company building, AI should only be a sidekick, not a replacement.
Great read, David! This really nails the tension between AI’s convenience and its limits. A few thoughts:
AI-to-human relationships are definitely the next wave (hello, personalized chatbots and virtual companions, even girlfriend/boyfriend!), but I doubt they’ll fully replace human bonds. AI can mimic empathy, but it can’t replicate the messy, nuanced connection of shared experiences—like laughing at an inside joke or sensing someone’s unspoken mood or warm touch & hugs human shares in real world.
The scary part is it's getting way too easy to fake humanity with AI—and as life gets faster, we might not even notice. We’re already drowning in AI-generated noise (emails, deepfake videos, etc.), and the line between “real” and “simulated” will keep blurring.
That said, I love your point about using tech to amplify (not replace) trust. Tools like yours, which map real networks, could help cut through the artificial clutter. Curious: how do you see businesses balancing AI efficiency with human authenticity moving forward?