AI and Relationships, Part 2: AI Therapists and Bot Boyfriends

Endless Thread

WBUR

Reddit, Technology

4.2 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for endless thread comes from MathWorks.
0:03.3	Creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.1	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science.
0:13.8	Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:16.3	All right, guys, let's head for the stadium and grab some high ground.
0:19.5	Copy that. I'll drop near the checkpoint. I'll take the building on the left.
0:22.7	And watch out for any teams going for the same spot.
0:24.9	I'm in position.
0:27.1	Whoa, that does not sound good.
0:30.7	Play it down. Play it down.
0:32.8	You need broadband that can keep up with your play.
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0:41.4	Let's do this.
0:42.5	Search EE Broadband.
0:44.1	To verify I see EE.com.ukuk slash claims.
0:47.5	WBURP Podcast, Boston. I met somebody online that seems still like an amazing match and I was freaking out because I didn't expect to find an amazing match online.
1:10.7	Let's be honest, who among us expect to find an amazing match online. Let's be honest,
1:11.9	who among us expects to find an amazing match online with anything? This is what the kids are
1:18.4	doing these days, Ben. The kids, the adults. You go kids. And this is Endless Thread listener, Jess
1:24.6	Kay. And when Jess met this promising person online, she did what a lot of people
1:29.8	do, processed her excitement and anxiety out loud, or rather via text. Like, I've only been on three
	...

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