Body Electric: If a bot relationship FEELS real, should we care that it's not?

TED Radio Hour

NPR

Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Science, Technology

4.4 • 21.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thanks to advances in AI, chatbots can act as personalized therapists, companions, and romantic partners. The apps offering these services have been downloaded millions of times. If these relationships relieve stress and make us feel better, does it matter that they're not "real"?

On this episode from our special series Body Electric, host Manoush Zomorodi talks to MIT sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle about her new research into what she calls "artificial intimacy," and its impact on our mental and physical health.

Binge the whole Body Electric series here.

Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge and our newsletter here.

Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, or record a voice memo and email it to us at [email protected].

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dignity Memorial.
0:04.9	When your celebration of life is prepaid today, your family is protected tomorrow.
0:10.9	Planning ahead is truly one of the best gifts you can give your family.
0:15.0	For additional information, visit dignity memorial.com.
0:20.0	Hey, it's Manouche Zamorodi, the host of Ted Radio Hour, but I'm sharing a strange and intriguing
0:27.0	episode with you from our special series called Body Electric. So you may know, Body Electric.
0:32.8	So you may know, Body Electric explores the relationship
0:36.1	between our technology and our health.
0:39.4	And today's topic is artificial intimacy.
0:43.6	How people are forming deep connections with really realistic artificially intelligent
0:49.5	bots, bot therapists, bot boyfriends.
0:53.5	How will these new relationships impact our ability to have human relationships?
0:59.5	Does it matter if these bots aren't real, if they really make us feel better?
1:06.5	This one is quite a listen.
1:08.4	If you like it, come on over to the body electric feed
1:11.7	for much more. We're having a pretty good time over there
1:13.9	please join me but for now enjoy
1:18.7	hey it's my noosh. Okay, I am gonna make myself a bot. So the other day I downloaded an
1:29.8	app called Character. AI. I'm thinking a creative partner or a life coach I guess. There has
1:38.9	been so much hype about artificial intelligence and chatbots and their power to mimic or even surpass human
1:47.6	relationships that I figured it was time to see for myself.
1:51.7	Talk live with your characters, it says. The app suggested I try
	...

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