Artificial Intimacy

Is It a Relationship if No One’s on the Other Side?

The Ezra Klein Show, 14 October 2026. The author is the guest. The book comes up at 2 min 12 sec in.

The full episode interviews Sherry Turkle about her book. It examines how AI chatbots simulate care and intimacy without offering anything real to internalize, training users to expect frictionless, mirroring conversations. Turkle argues this is especially damaging for children's psychological development. Ezra Klein engages critically throughout, pressing on the potential benefits of AI companionship and on whether human therapeutic relationships are truly more authentic.

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