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Tech companies want you to believe that the chatbots they profit from are the always ready, never judgemental, constantly affirming friend in our pockets. But are the people using them as companions under some kind of deep self-delusion? Or are they seeking something else?
This week I’m joined by Bridget Todd. Among many other projects and accomplishments, Bridget is the creator and host of the award winning podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet, is a Fellow at the MacArthur Foundation, and an affiliate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Her new audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, launched in July with coauthor Michael Amato.
We talk about her work interviewing people who use chatbots to fill an emotional need, how people who engage in romantic, intimate and erotic roleplay with LLMs are mocked for it, and how tech companies are implicated in all of this. In her new book, you’ll hear from experts in the field of AI companionship, but also from people who have nuanced, interesting interactions with chatbots every day. Bridget’s book is her most vulnerable work yet: She unpacks and critiques her own use of ChatGPT during a crisis, and reveals what she learned about herself, her friendships and real-life relationships, and what it means to maintain human connections in a world where tech companies are constantly trying to exploit our innermost worlds.
Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy
New Study Reveals the Manipulative ‘Dark Patterns’ of AI Chatbots
‘It’s Hurting Like Hell’: AI Companion Users Are In Crisis, Reporting Sudden Sexual Rejection
ChatGPT’s Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/qCk-7r7lp8Y
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