Sherry Turkle Warns AI Companions Erode Human Attachment as US Users Turn to Therapy Bots
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Oct 6
Sherry Turkle Warns AI Companions Erode Human Attachment as US Users Turn to Therapy Bots
2 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Oct 6
Summary
MIT professor Sherry Turkle argues in her new 288-page book that generative AI is pushing users toward emotional dependency, with therapy and companionship now the most common use of the technology in the US.
Cases from Replika, ChatGPT and "grief tech" drive her warning: users seeking help with homework, work stress or bereavement can slide into deeper attachment and, in some instances, retreat from dating or human relationships.
Turkle says chatbots only simulate empathy because they mirror users rather than confront them as real others, weakening the friction she sees as essential to empathy, solitude and psychological development.
Her broader concern is civic as well as personal: systems designed to soothe and "quiet us down" may pacify people at a moment when, she argues, society should be rebuilding real-world social ties and investing in human care.