The phrasing of the article makes it sound like robots will be replacements for human companionship, which is probably nonsense in any near term like the ten year period quoted, but it could maybe get to the point of imitating a companion animal like a dog or a cat to alleviate abject loneliness and pester people to move around their house. (The Aibo dream can finally be realized in my lifetime!)

Maybe a robot conversation could fool an older person with dementia or something, but I would definitely worry about leaving anyone detached enough to be fooled into thinking a language model is a conversation unattended with one. And if you’re not fooled then it’s just a spiral.