AI and Relationships, Part 2: AI Therapists and Bot Boyfriends
Aug 22, 2025•30 min
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Summary
This episode delves into how people are integrating AI into their personal relationships, exploring cases from using ChatGPT as a dating therapist and creating AI-generated bedtime stories, to forming romantic bonds with AI companions. It examines the benefits of AI for objective advice and efficiency, while also raising crucial questions about the potential for AI to replace genuine human connection and reshape our understanding of relationships in an increasingly AI-driven world.Episode description
What happens when we outsource aspects of our most personal moments to machines?
In the second installment of our two-part series on AI and relationships, we hear from Rhiannon Williams, a reporter for MIT Technology Review who spoke to people all over the world about how they're using AI to relate to their loved ones, including a man who turns to it during marital disputes, a French mother who uses it to craft nightly tales for her son, and a nursing student who calls her AI companion her "boyfriend."
Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and edited by Meg Cramer. It was co-hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android