We’re Asking All the Wrong Questions About AI Companionship

In all my conversations about generative AI, there’s nothing as controversial as the idea of AI chatbots acting as companions for friendship, romance or even sex. But author Bridget Todd is convinced — and has convinced me, with good reason — that we’re asking the wrong questions about these virtual partners.

In her new book Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, Todd, creator of the podcast There Are No Girls On The Internet and a MacArthur fellow, uses research and personal experience to paint a complex and emotionally nuanced portrait of people who form intimate connections with AI chatbots. Instead of directing our judgment toward those human-bot relationships, she argues, we should instead be examining the exploitative nature of the companies that built the technology.

“We’re asking whether it’s healthy for individuals to develop relationships with AI when we should be asking whether it’s ethical...

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