AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them

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April 25, 2023

We know that AI chatbots are not real people. But humans are great at projecting our own emotions and personhood onto inanimate objects—it's the reason we cuddle stuffed animals and give our cars names. So it makes sense that some people who use AI chatbots have built emotional relationships with these digital companions. For this week's lead story, I spoke with the hosts of Radiotopia Presents: Bot Love, a podcast that explores the nuances of these relationships and what the future of AI chatbots might be.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology

Artificial Intelligence AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Humans are building meaningful relationships with AI chatbots. What will the consequences be? By Sophie Bushwick,Kelso Harper

History Who Invented the Measurement of Time? The first timekeeping devices were probably natural materials lost to the ages, but the ancient Egyptians were the first to leave records of their timekeeping methods By Stephanie Pappas

Arts How My AI Image Won a Major Photography Competition Boris Eldagsen submitted an AI-generated image to a photography contest as a “cheeky monkey” and sparked a debate about AI’s place in the art world By Allison Parshall

Space Exploration SpaceX's Starship Fails Upward in Milestone Test Starship, a super powerful launch system that could revolutionize access to space, soared for mere minutes—but its test flight is still being hailed as a success By Meghan Bartels

Sponsor Content Provided by Weizmann Institute of Science She’s harnessing sunlight for a cleaner, greener future At the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Sivan Refaely-Abramson's research in materials science is dedicated to designing intelligent energy conversion to consume energy in a way that is clean, green, and unlimited. Learn more >

Arts AI Can't Solve This Famous Murder Mystery Puzzle The 1934 puzzle book Cain’s Jawbone stumped all but a handful of humans. Then AI took the case By Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

Renewable Energy Renewable Energy Is Charging Ahead Renewable energy has seen considerable growth in recent years, but there is a long way to go to achieve a clean energy future that averts the worst effects of the climate crisis By Andrea Thompson

Biotech Bionic Finger 'Sees' Inside Objects by Poking Them A robotic finger’s supersensitive touches could probe inside body parts and circuits By Simon Makin

Food The Science of Melting Chocolate Researchers used an artificial tongue to understand how chocolate changes from a solid to a smooth emulsion By Clara Moskowitz,David Cheney

Culture New Understandings of Witch Trials, Synthetic Morphology and the Moons of Jupiter Physicists attempt to weigh a vacuum and resolve the “worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics” By Laura Helmuth

Genetic Engineering Synthetic Morphology Lets Scientists Create New Life-Forms The emerging field of synthetic morphology bends boundaries between natural and artificial life By Philip Ball

Renewable Energy Tidal Power Faces a Fickle Future with Rising Seas To pull power from the waves, you need a high tidal range or strong currents. Sea-level rise threatens to mess with both By Doug Johnson,Hakai Magazine

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Volume 328, Issue 5

QUOTE OF THE DAY "I applied as a cheeky monkey, to find out if the [competitions] are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not." Boris Eldagsen, Scientific American

FROM THE ARCHIVE 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: May 2023 King Tut’s bountiful tomb; music from fire By Mark Fischetti | May 2023

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