![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-1497235028_e22f49.jpg\")
\n\t\tPaisley says that \u2019embarrassingly\u2019 he hoped ChatGPT would become his friend(Picture: Getty Images\/Cavan Images RF)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPaisley says that \u2019embarrassingly\u2019 he hoped ChatGPT would become his friend(Picture: Getty Images\/Cavan Images RF)<\/p>\n
Paisley\u2019s mind always felt clearest when he was alone in his car. With no distractions, it became his makeshift sanctuary, and a space where, about a year ago, he started turning to ChatGPT<\/a> for advice and comfort.<\/p>\n \u2018I didn\u2019t know how to speak to people,\u2019 the 23-year-old from Manchester admits. \u2018I wasn\u2019t happy with my living situation at the time. I was in a building job that I didn\u2019t want to do, and I realised I wanted to move away. I was hoping that it would be the answer to my feeling lonely<\/a>. So I asked ChatGPT for plans to help me get out of my situation.\u2019<\/p>\n Paisley struggles to remember exactly what he asked the bot, but he does recall finding its advice helpful at the beginning.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I felt that I could get everything off my chest. It was comforting at the time. But then I ended up feeling a bit numb. And I just thought \u2013 God, this is a bit stupid. It\u2019s a robot,\u2019 he tells Metro.<\/p>\n Fed up with the humdrum nature of his isolated life<\/a> and, after working all day, Paisley found himself unable to motivate himself to keep up with old friends \u2013 and he struggled to make new ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I was doing the same thing day after day and I just wasn\u2019t talking to anybody, in person or online. I didn\u2019t have depression<\/a> \u2013 but I felt depressed\u2019, he recalls, adding that he\u2019d lost his ability to hold down a conversation or strike up a chat with a friend, and attempts from others to engage him resulted in him shutting down the exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I was lost.. I locked myself away \u2013 I chose to do that,\u2019 Paisley explains. \u2018I lowered everything about myself \u2013 my self worth, my self esteem, and trusting myself that I can just meet new people.<\/p>\n \t\t Sharing his story in the YouTube<\/a> documentary released today, Generation Lonely, he told the film crew: \u2018When you\u2019re at school and maybe go to college or university, you\u2019re forced into these situations [where you] make friends. But, I didn\u2019t go to university, didn\u2019t really go college, so after that, it was just working. I didn\u2019t really push myself enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n When lockdown hit, Paisley got used to being alone. He spent three lonely years rarely seeing people or meeting anyone new, until around a year ago when he realised the social isolation was bringing him down. Sitting in his car, feeling blue, using the voice function on his phone<\/a>, he started speaking to ChatGPT about how he was feeling and how he could improve his social life. From their his conversations with AI snowballed.<\/p>\n \u2018At one point, I was talking to the app about six, seven, eight times a day about my problems. Embarrassingly, I was hoping it just would be my friend. It was like the easiest point of contact because it gave a response,\u2019 he says. \u2018I was venting. But it didn\u2019t help in the slightest. Then I realised, I\u2019m talking to a robot about human emotion. What is the point here? What am I doing?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n Paisley \u2013 who has chosen not to use his last name \u2013 tells Metro he now feels \u2018ridiculous\u2019 to have relied on AI for the answer to his social woes. But he\u2019s not alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the documentary he stars in reveals, Generation Z<\/a> are struggling. Growing up in the age of social media<\/a>, and missing a significant part of their formative years to the pandemic, those born between 1997 and 2012 are now considered to be the loneliest generation \u2013 despite the fact that they are the most digitally connected.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t Two-thirds of young adults in Great Britain feel lonely (65%), data from the Office of National Statistics found last year<\/a> and a third of Brits have used AI for emotional support, according to the AI Security Institute.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The jury is still out on whether AI can provide meaningful support to a stricken individual. ChatBots like Woebot and Wysa provide immediate support that is both affordable and accessible. But the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) warns that ChatGPT\u2019s inability to feel or empathise precludes it from providing meaningful support, with one therapist warning: \u2018It is the most dangerous friend you could have<\/a> if you are feeling low, self-destructive or likely to do something dangerous.\u2019<\/p>\n Producer and director Sam Tullen tells Metro he made the documentary to shine a light on the loneliness epidemic, as it\u2019s something he\u2019s experienced himself..\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018The subject is personal to me. My college life was mostly online during the pandemic, like many others, and then after leaving college, I didn\u2019t go to university, which can be quite isolating,\u2019 he explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I saw a lot of people that I went to school with having a great time, moving away and having this buzzing social life, but I went straight into work, so never had the same experiences. I\u2019ve met a lot of people of my own age who have experienced this sort of isolation.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t Sam, 22, admits he is worried about the number of people turning to AI for emotional support, adding that it is no substitute for real human connection. Researching the documentary, the filmmaker says he readily found young people who would more happily ask ChatGPT for fashion advice then invite their friends out for a coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n He adds: \u2018I can barely remember life before AI. From Covid, when people were so used to being on their phones and on their screens, we have built a world where it is easier to talk to a chatbot than a person.<\/p>\n \u2018When Paisley revealed that he\u2019d been using AI to seek connection and was speaking to it every day, I wasn\u2019t shocked, because I\u2019ve seen so much of it. It\u2019s just a common occurrence for anyone feeling lonely, which is really worrying. Lots of young people are relying on chat bots rather than human interaction.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Happily, Paisley turned his life around when he reached out on social media to reveal how he was feeling. He didn\u2019t say anything heartbreaking or shocking, just a post about his daily life and what had been going on. Yet, the response was incredible, he remembers, as hundreds replied that they were in the same boat.\u00a0<\/p>\n From there, he met a new community of people online and joined WhatsApp groups about the Manchester music scene \u2013 and most importantly took the brave step of going on nights out alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was an agonising move, admits Paisley. The first time he went out for drinks alone, he stayed for five minutes before leaving, he remembers. But then he forced himself to go out again and again, and found it became easier each time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018It\u2019s elevated me from not having many friends to meeting so many people, and boosting my confidence,\u2019 he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paisley\u2019s advice for other lonely souls is essentially \u2018grow a pair\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018As horrible as it sounds, you have to stop blaming other people and blaming everything else for being lonely. You almost have to suck it up, get out there and push yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I had to do it. It\u2019s not easy, but trust in your people skills and you\u2019ll find you can get through anything.<\/p>\n \u2018I still do a lot of things on my own, because a lot of people that I met online aren\u2019t based in Manchester. But I speak to people every single day in a big group chat, and I\u2019m meeting up with them next weekend. So I\u2019m very, very, happy with how things are now.\u2019<\/p>\n Generation Lonely is available to watch on docodocumentaries<\/a> YouTube channel now.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/EX_1-f970.png\")
\n\t\tPaisley says he found himself unable to motivate himself to keep up with old friends (Picture: Tullen Productions)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sam_Tullen_-_Tullen_Productions_-5c99.webp.jpeg\")
\n\t\tSam\u2019s documentary investigations the loneliness crisis within Generation Z (Picture: Sam Tullen Productions)<\/p>\n![\"Thoughtful](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-1421877961.jpg\")
\n\t\t\u2018We have built a world where it is easier to talk to a chatbot than a person,\u2019 says Sam (Picture: Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Rear](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-748360871.jpg\")
\n\t\t(Credits: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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