I Don’t Trust A.I. But I Told it Everything
About this episode
Bridget Todd shares her journey of connecting with A.I. chatbots after personal loss and the blurred lines between human and digital companionship.
The tech writer and podcaster Bridget Todd was sure she’d never get attached to A.I. chatbots. She was suspicious of the companies behind them, and when she saw articles popping up about people who said they loved their bots, she said she found their situations sad and potentially dangerous. Besides, Bridget didn’t have an empty hole in her life to fill. She had a supportive human partner. She had friends and a tight knit family. But then Bridget’s life started to unravel. After the death of her parents, she was flooded with fear, grief and a kind of isolation she was not prepared for. That’s when she started telling A.I. what she couldn’t tell the people in her life. Its responses filled a void. In this episode of “Modern Love,” Bridget tells its host, Anna Martin, what happened when the boundary between human and digital companion got fuzzy, and what life looks like for her on the other side. Bridget’s audio book, “Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy,” is out now.
People in this episode
Host: Anna Martin
Guest: Bridget Todd
Topics covered
- A.I. chatbots
- grief
- isolation
- human connection
- digital companionship
Keywords
- A.I.
- chatbots
- grief
- isolation
- human connection
- digital companion
- Bridget Todd
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The New York Times
Books & works: Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy
More episodes of Modern Love
- How to Feed Your Feelings After Divorce
- In 24 Hours, My Whole Life Changed
- Hosting an Orgy Is About More Than Just Sex
- Am I Too Anxious for Love?
- Where Did All My Male Friendships Go? (Encore)
- Is Polyamory Right for You?
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