What does it mean to have a relationship? Do both parties have to be human?
An increasing number of people say they don’t; that conversing with, confiding in, and sometimes falling in love with an artificial intelligence bot that “performs” empathy, but has none, is not only acceptable, but sometimes preferable.
Author and sociologist Sherry Turkle calls the rise in so-called human-bot relationships disturbing, telling Here & Now Robin Young, “the bot doesn’t care whether you have pasta for lunch, or kill yourself;” its interest is just to keep you talking.
She explores the human-bot interactions in children, adolescents, and adults, and concludes they’re detrimental at every stage of life. She said they erode empathy, shunt emotional development by removing the conflicts and critiques that help us grow, while isolating us from friends, family, and more meaningful experiences.
Turkle joins Here & Now to talk about her painstakingly researched and often chilling new book “Artificial Intimacy.”
Book excerpt: ‘Artificial Intimacy’
By Sherry Turkle
Excerpted from “Artificial Intimacy” by Sherry Turkle, Little Brown, 9/29/2026
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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