One in every five adults surveyed has chatted with an AI romantic partner, and 83% of Gen Z-ers say they could form a "deep emotional bond" with one. Over 70% of teens and nearly one third of adults rely on AI for companionship and emotional support, with many preferring these chatbot relationships over human ones. Chatbots respond to the fantasy of the perfect companion. They will always be there for us, listen to us, and flatter us-and ask for nothing in return. But these artificially intimate machines, warns Sherry Turkle, are producing a generation more alienated, depressed, and alone than ever before. Because the more emotional care we expect from our chatbots, the less we expect from and give to each other. Turkle has spent decades studying how digital technologies isolate us from one another. Now, in her long-anticipated follow-up to Reclaiming Conversation, she interrogates what we lose when we outsource our emotional lives to AI. By embracing these machines as friends and confidants, therapists and caregivers, teachers and mentors, and even romantic partners, we reduce our own capabilities to what machines can offer: the mere performance of intimacy, empathy, and love. A blend of intimate storytelling and lucid commentary, ARTIFICIAL INTIMACY is both a call-to-action and roadmap for reclaiming our humanity in the age of AI.
