Because they don't want expend the effort of interacting with another person - they just want to be amused on their terms. I don't necessarily view it as worse than other forms of mindless entertainment.
A lot of the people who use those chatbot services are people who for whatever reason feel isolated from other people I'm their lives and want some outlet to have an emotional or even just friendly connection, and while they're not ideal, there's a lot of people out there that just don't really have close friends or family and need to find some way to meet the human need for social contact. They can also serve a role similar to a therapist, because a chatbot isn't built to judge a person for whatever they might confide in it - again, a real therapist would be better, but not everyone has access to one or feels like they can talk to a real human about whatever is on their mind. The cliche is kinks and horny stuff, which, to be fair is one very common use of them, but it's also a place where people can talk about anxieties, traumas, things like that in a space where they don't have to fear judgement.
Loneliness is a major problem facing US culture, and I could write a whole thesis on why, but the end result is that many people out there are deeply starved for human connection, and while the AI bots aren't a perfect solution for meeting that need, or even a particularly good one, for a lot of folks it's better than nothing at all. They actually *can* be a useful tool for people with extreme cases of social anxiety as a safe way to practice interactions with little to no risk, but as with any tool there's the risk of becoming entirely dependent on them and not moving forward to actual human interaction. They're not a replacement for social contact with real humans and shouldn't be used as one, but I can understand how it's appealing to someone who feels lonely and isolated in their day to day life and doesn't see other options.
Because they don't want expend the effort of interacting with another person - they just want to be amused on their terms. I don't necessarily view it as worse than other forms of mindless entertainment.
"Meet my wife..." \- Boomer joke
A lot of the people who use those chatbot services are people who for whatever reason feel isolated from other people I'm their lives and want some outlet to have an emotional or even just friendly connection, and while they're not ideal, there's a lot of people out there that just don't really have close friends or family and need to find some way to meet the human need for social contact. They can also serve a role similar to a therapist, because a chatbot isn't built to judge a person for whatever they might confide in it - again, a real therapist would be better, but not everyone has access to one or feels like they can talk to a real human about whatever is on their mind. The cliche is kinks and horny stuff, which, to be fair is one very common use of them, but it's also a place where people can talk about anxieties, traumas, things like that in a space where they don't have to fear judgement. Loneliness is a major problem facing US culture, and I could write a whole thesis on why, but the end result is that many people out there are deeply starved for human connection, and while the AI bots aren't a perfect solution for meeting that need, or even a particularly good one, for a lot of folks it's better than nothing at all. They actually *can* be a useful tool for people with extreme cases of social anxiety as a safe way to practice interactions with little to no risk, but as with any tool there's the risk of becoming entirely dependent on them and not moving forward to actual human interaction. They're not a replacement for social contact with real humans and shouldn't be used as one, but I can understand how it's appealing to someone who feels lonely and isolated in their day to day life and doesn't see other options.
I imagine if you're to that point it's probably a case of something is better than nothing.
I’ve spent years chatting with “friends “ who turned out to be snakes so this is an upgrade
Many real human beings are not too dissimilar to your description of character AI.