Artificial Intimacy

AN URGENT WARNING ABOUT HOW OUR GROWING ATTACHMENT TO HUMAN-LIKE AI IS ERODING UT CAPACITY FOR EMPATHY, CARING, AND THE VERY QUALITIES THAT MAKE US HUMAN . . . FOR READERS OF THE ANXIOUS GENERATION __________________ Social media came for our attention - now Chatbots are coming for our relationships. Nearly one-third of adults now turn to AI programmes like ChatGPT for companionship. For Gen Z, the figures are even more stark: eight out of ten say they could form a deep emotional attachment with a machine. It's not hard to see why. Chatbots offer the fantasy of the perfect partner: endlessly available, endlessly attentive, always affirming. But as MIT professor Sherry Turkle discovers by speaking to people who use chatbots as confidants, therapists, carers and lovers, these hallucinatory bonds come at great cost. The more we ask machines to care for us, the less we expect from - and give to - other people. AI deepens the loneliness it claims to cure. For decades, Turkle has been the leading voice on how digital technologies erode connection. Now, blending vivid storytelling with sharp cultural critique, she turns her attention to a technology that has convinced so many that the performance of empathy is empathy enough. Essential reading for parents and children, clinicians and patients, managers and employees, Artificial Intimacy offers both a cautionary tale and a roadmap for being human in the age of AI. ________________________ Praise for Artificial Intimacy 'The most qualified member of Team Humanity to call us back to our senses, and to each other' Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation 'Structured around key stages in psychological development - childhood, adolescence, love, work, death - the book argues strongly that our new "posthuman conversational partners" are inadequate companions for life's journey.