Sherry Turkle

When a chatbot says “I understand,” we are asked to believe in its consciousness and care. In the Next Big Idea Club’s Book of the Day newsletter, I share five insights from Artificial Intimacy, including why the performance of empathy by chatbots is so compelling—and what we risk when we take it as “empathy enough”! Human relationships ask something of us: patience, vulnerability, a willingness to listen and disagree. That effort is part of how we learn to care for each other. With a chatbot, we learn none of that. Thank you, Michael Kovnat and the Next Big Idea Club, for sharing these ideas. Read more of my insights on AI and human connection, and follow me on Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-222…

Chicago friends, join me tomorrow evening! I’ll be in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist @FlowersAlison about my new book, Artificial Intimacy. We’ll explore how AI companions are changing our relationships and our sense of ourselves—and what it takes to preserve our capacity for human connection. Thank you to @FamilyActionNet and Latin School of Chicago for bringing us together on Wednesday, October 28, at 7 PM CT at Latin School of Chicago’s Wrigley Theatre. Free and open to the public, with no registration required. FAN will be giving away copies of Artificial Intimacy while supplies last, and everyone is welcome at the reception afterward. I hope to see you there!

A lovely review in The Christian Science Monitor. At the heart of “Artificial Intimacy” is a call to “reclaim the real.” Every time we turn to chatbots, we sacrifice our sense of agency over our own lives. There could not be a worse moment to turn away from politics, your community, and the real.

In my conversation with @kaliouby, on the Pioneers of AI podcast, we talked about why I chose a life cycle perspective to explore who we become in dialogue with chatbots. To answer the question “Who do we become when we talk to machines?” we have to recognize that “conversational” and “relational” AI lands differently for children, teens, and adults—and at different moments in the life cycle, as we navigate work, love, and death. sherryturkle.com/post/what-h…

This conversation with @ASKusmer on @BostonGlobe Say More podcast was warm, wide-ranging, and challenging. I left with increased resolve to investigate how societies move away from technological trends that have gotten them into trouble. In the case of chatbots, a first step is to fight against metaphors such as “the train has left the station” and “the horse has left the barn.” We have to summon ourselves to protect what is most human. bostonglobe.com/2026/10/15/o…

I have been a fan of @ezraklein's for so many years — a master of conversation. In this conversation, we got to the heart of our current dilemma: Chatbots offer the feeling of companionship without the demand for reciprocity, the illusion of empathy while deskilling our ability to deal with one another. I loved how Ezra pushed back on where companionate AI might actually offer relief — it sparked a sharp, necessary debate about the future of human community. nytimes.com/2026/10/14/opini…

I had a great host in @Slate's Lizzie O’Leary. We got into a conversation about how, in the midst of discussions about AI and catastrophic events on a large scale, we need to be alert to a more intimate catastrophe—that if chatbots are our children’s best friends, they will not be able to develop the capacity for attachment, relationships, and love. Watch our conversation: youtube.com/watch?v=jZS6F4YP…

What do we lose when we delegate too much of our work to AI? I spoke with Michelle Peng at Charter for @TIME about something I heard again and again while researching Artificial Intimacy: across professions, there is a real concern that the next generation may lose the “heartbeat of the work”—the learning, judgment, engagement, and sense of ownership that come from doing the work yourself. We ask AI to be empowering, but it can also be deskilling! time.com/partner-content/cha…

I’m looking forward to this conversation with @jonkabatzinn in New York City on October 14, hosted by Steve Stein. We’ll talk about what happens when we begin to accept “pretend empathy” from machines, and why we need to protect what makes our relationships human. Join us in person at All Souls or via livestream. Register here: wisdomfeed.thrivecart.com/ar…

My mother died when I was 18, with so much between us left unresolved. While researching Artificial Intimacy, I did something I never expected to do: I used AI to create an avatar of her and asked it questions I had carried with me for most of my life. I wrote about that experience for The Washington Post and why I came away believing that using chatbots to bring back the dead is playing with fire. washingtonpost.com/opinions/…

I’m looking forward to taking Artificial Intimacy on the road and to the conversations ahead. I hope you’ll join me at one of these upcoming events. Visit my events page for details and registration information: sherryturkle.com/events

I recently read @nxthompson's The Running Ground, a memoir about running, his father, and finding one’s identity. I found it deeply moving and was so looking forward to talking with Thompson about technology and identity. I loved our conversation.

Today is the publication day for Artificial Intimacy. There are so many moments in the life of a book. The day you finished the proposal. The day you settled on the right outline. The copyedit. The corrected pages. But there is nothing like the day that you see your book in a bookstore. All of those other landmarks fall away. In winter 1978, I stood outside Harvard Book Store, nose pressed to the window, and watched a young woman take Psychoanalytic Politics off the shelf. She looked at it and put it back. But I was content. My book, my first book, was in the hands of strangers. And now, these feelings rush back: Artificial Intimacy is in the world, and I feel humbled. hachettebookgroup.com/titles…

Thank you, @hope_reese, for this conversation about what happens when the performance of empathy becomes empathy enough and how friction-free chatbot friendship can make us discontent with people. bostonglobe.com/2026/09/28/o…

If you’re in the Boston area, join me this Tuesday, September 29, at 6 PM at the Harvard Science Center for a conversation with David Kaiser about Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines. The event is free and will be followed by a book signing. You can also reserve a copy of Artificial Intimacy when you RSVP and pick it up at the event. Hope to see you there! eventbrite.com/e/sherry-turk…

“Alexa, I Need Some Space.” I spoke with Jancee Dunn for The New York Times about “artificial intimacy,” our increasingly cozy relationships with AI chatbots, and how to keep them in check. This is a gift article, so you can read it without a subscription. nytimes.com/2026/09/25/well/…

I spoke with Kara Swisher about why chatbots aren’t just competing for our time—they are becoming objects of emotional attachment. Our conversation explored the appeal and risks of friction-free relationships and the importance of boredom and vulnerability in our development. We even got into the allure and dangers of grieftech—creating an avatar of you for future generations or creating a chatbot of someone you have lost! Talking with Kara is an adventure! youtube.com/watch?v=6yYvWFj8…

I recently spoke with @kzernike about how the history of biotechnology informs our moment of reckoning with “rogue” AI. What do AI companies have to learn from biotech’s spirit of Asilomar? Kate is the author of the brilliant book The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science, which explored sexism in science through the microcosm of MIT’s confrontation with Professor of Biology Nancy Hopkins. nytimes.com/2026/09/23/us/as…

Decades ago, I spoke in Michael Sandel’s class and presented the ethical dilemmas posed by a robot baby seal that offered a performance of empathy. The technology has gotten more sophisticated, but generative AI poses the same vexing questions. I explore these questions in my new book, Artificial Intimacy. Preorder here: hachettebookgroup.com/titles…