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. Turkle grounds her analysis in academic literature, while illuminating it with often haunting vignettes' Becky Hogge, Financial Times''In a time in which the ways we communicate and connect are constantly changing, and not always for the better, Sherry Turkle provides a much needed voice of caution and reason to help explain what the f*** is going on' Aziz Ansari on Reclaiming Conversation'A must-read for anyone engaging with AI today. That just about means all of us'Esther Perel, author and host of Where Should We Begin'Sherry Turkle, our wisest guide to digital life, has written her most urgent book yet. Artificial Intimacy will help you avoid the profound but often hidden threats AI poses to you and your relationships. Read it and share it with all the humans you know'Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows'Artificial Intimacy is a devastating book' Private Eye