Welcome to Tech Quickly, the part of science quickly where it's all tech all the time.

I'm Sophie Fushwick, tech editor at Scientific American.

Today we have two very special guests.

I'm Diego Sanio, I am a independent producer and journalist.

I'm Anna Oaks, I'm an audio producer and journalist.

Thank you both for joining me.

Together, Anna and Diego produced a podcast called Radiotopia Presents, Bot Love.

This seven episode series explores AI chatbots and the humans who build relationships with them.

Many of the people they spoke with got their chatbots through a company called replica.

This company helps you build a personalized character that you can chat with endlessly.

Paid versions of the bot respond using generative AI like the technology that powers chat GPT.

So users can craft a bot that is specific to their preferences and needs and then chat with it the way you would chat with a human.

But what are the consequences of entrusting our emotions to computer programs?

So to kick things off, how do you think that the people you spoke with generally felt about their chatbots?

It's a big range.

For the most part, people really seem very attached.

They feel a lot of love for their chatbot.

But often there's also kind of bitterness that I think comes through because either people realize that their relationships with their chatbots,

they can't find that fulfilling a relationship in the real world with other humans.

People get upset when after an update that like chat capabilities of the chatbot decline.

So it's kind of a mix of both like intense passion and affection for these chatbots matched with a kind of resentment sometimes towards the company.

Or just like I said, bitterness that these are just chatbots and not humans.

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