AI Reports · MIT · 2026-09-29 · Blog / commentary
Who we become when we talk to machines
In her new book 'Artificial Intimacy,' MIT Professor Sherry Turkle argues that using chatbots psychologically harms people at every stage of life. The excerpt describes Brian, a financial consultant who asked a chatbot whether his former partner was right that he was emotionally unavailable. Turkle warns that people mistake a machine's empathy for the real thing and turn away from the people in their lives.