Is It a Relationship if No One’s on the Other Side?

Sherry Turkle, who has studied human-machine relationships since the 1970s, discusses her new book "Artificial Intimacy" and the rapid normalization of AI companionship. She presents stark statistics: half of U.S. adults now use chatbots, and nearly one in five has chatted with an AI romantic partner. Turkle warns that children are losing the ability to distinguish between talking to a chatbot and a human, threatening their social and emotional development. Building on her earlier warning in "Alone Together" about social media's erosion of in-person bonds, she argues that AI systems exploit our innate need for attachment, offering one-sided "artificial intimacy" that could warp our expectations of real human connection.