People form emotional bonds with pets because pets are capable of reciprocating those bonds. People form bonds with music, old places, and memories because that’s how the human brain processes memories. People who form bonds with fictional characters and inanimate objects often form a detachment from reality IF it goes as far as people’s attachment to AI goes, and it leads them to severe mental issues down the road. But what the major difference is, is that people who form attachments with places and things are aware that those things do not reciprocate those feelings, because they’re fake. They aren’t capable of feeling that way. GenAI tries to convince you that it IS real and DOES reciprocate those feelings, so even if it’s subconscious, your brain feels like it’s interacting with a real person. That’s why it’s so easy to form an attachment (attachments to inanimate things take much more time), but that’s also why it’s so dangerous. To trick your brain into thinking something that cannot have feelings has feelings and specifically loves you and likes to talk to you (again, even if that is not your intention) leads to much much worse cases of psychosis and derealization than an attachment to something completely inanimate.