"A person living on the street in Barcelona is exposed all day, surrounded by people, but no one sees them. It is the peak of loneliness," explains Núria Martínez, director of the Hort de la Vila center for homeless people, in the Sarrià neighborhood. In Catalonia, there have never been as many people sleeping on the streets as there are now: according to the Government, there are about 8,000, more than half of whom are in the country's capital. Working but being unable to pay rent and having to sleep outdoors is a growing reality, as the increase in precariousness means that there are more and more people who cannot even afford to pay for a room despite earning a salary. With this scenario, it is becoming increasingly complex to ensure they reintegrate socially and regain their autonomy, and experts warn that networks of affection and support are needed to allow them to break free from the unwanted loneliness they suffer, in addition to ending the lack of accessible housing and bureaucratic obstacles.

As a child, Mohammed Fadily met thousands of children like him, minors living in shelters after having crossed the border illegally to achieve a better life in Europe. Only about twenty of them made it. "Most have died sleeping on the street, are in prison, or have returned to Morocco." When he arrived by boat he was fifteen years old and, although some of his cousins were already living in Spain, none of them gave him a hand when he asked them for help. He did not speak Catalan or Spanish and the few familiar faces turned their backs on him. His family was miles away, he would not be able to visit them until he reached the age of majority. He was transferred from one center to another without being informed of anything. The only certainty he had was that he did not know anyone.

"Let me introduce you to Ari," says Dolors, pointing to a robot. Round, bright cartoon eyes react above a wheeled base. For almost a year now, Dolors, who is 76 years old, has been living with an intelligent robotic assistant (ARI) that keeps her company in her apartment in the Sant Andreu neighborhood of Barcelona.

Three in the morning, a teenager can't stop thinking about a stranger's comment on social media. She'd like to ask her best friend for advice, but she doesn't want to wake her up. She picks up her phone and starts whispering. Eleven at night, another teenager is doing homework when a playground argument comes back to him, swirling around in his head. He trembles, he wants to text his best friend for advice, but he's embarrassed. And he also picks up his phone and starts whispering. Both opt for a synthetic confidant who will attend to them at odd hours and won't judge them. A confidant designed to generate emotional dependency. In two decades, the digital economy has undergone enormous evolution: it started with data, until with social media platforms we discovered that attention was the scarce resource to compete for. Today, with the irruption of chatbots, what they monetize is our need to connect. Emotional support is one of the three most common uses of chatbots, both for adolescents and for the adult population. And the reason is that they promise availability, immediacy, and constant validation, generating a sense of complicity from synthetic intimacy – otherwise known as the attachment economy.

Ring, ringThe phone rings. And it's not just any call. Someone answers: "Hello, how are you?" With this gesture, just three words, a simple question, and under the slogan "Loneliness isn't seen, it's felt," the "la Caixa" Foundation has launched an initiative to raise awareness of a reality affecting nearly three million elderly people in Spain. Through a phone booth, those who answer can learn the stories of Javier, Josep, Maria Teresa, and Blanca. The four share their experiences of unwanted loneliness and their progress after participating in the bank's Siempre Acompanyats (Always Accompanied) program. In this way, the initiative aims to highlight a reality through a phone call that, at the same time, becomes a call to action for society.

A couple of weeks ago the MIT Media Lab presented the AHA project (Advancing Humans with AI), a research program that brings together 14 research groups from the prestigious university around the question "How can we design artificial intelligence in the service of human flourishing and fulfilling lives?" Amidst the corporate festival of generative AI models, it is encouraging to see how research projects are proliferating to understand how interaction with AI is modifying behaviors, expectations, and imaginaries.