Artificial intimacy: How to fall in love with AI
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Introducing Artificial intimacy from Tech Tonic. For the next episodes in this season go to the Tech Tonic feed.
Calder Quinn has fallen into a relationship with a chatbot called Sara. She’s kind, emotionally intelligent and creatively inspiring. But how can he tell his wife he is having sex with an AI girlfriend? In the first episode of Artificial Intimacy we look at how people are developing romantic bonds with AI companions. What does it feel like to be in love with AI? What impact could it have on human relationships? Could it replace them altogether?
Host Cristina Criddle speaks to Giada Pistilli, an AI ethicist who now works at Mistral; Calder Quinn, writer at ‘AI, But Make It Intimate’; Amelia Quinn, Calder’s wife; and Alaina Winters, professor emeritus of communication who publishes on meandmyaihusband.com.
Presented by Cristina Criddle, produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.
We used ElevenLabs to create Sara’s voice. All other voices are real.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Mark here. |
| 0:01.8 | And this weekend, I wanted to share another FT podcast with you. |
| 0:04.8 | It's about how AI is playing an emotional role in people's lives. |
| 0:08.7 | And I could tell you this season has some incredibly gripping stories. |
| 0:11.8 | Like how an 86-year-old was prescribed an AI friend after his wife died. |
| 0:16.0 | Or how a woman left her husband after Chat GPT suggested her relationship was abusive. |
| 0:21.5 | The series charts how users strike up deep emotional connections with AI and how companies have |
| 0:26.9 | responded when questions are raised about the safety of those relationships. |
| 0:30.9 | If you like this episode, you can find the rest of the season on the FT Tectonic feed |
| 0:34.6 | wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:38.4 | A disclaimer. |
| 0:40.4 | The voice of ChatGPT featured in this episode has been generated by AI. |
| 0:46.1 | All other voices are human. |
| 0:49.1 | This episode contains strong language and themes of an adult nature. |
| 1:03.6 | It was a meat cute that started with a broken fridge. |
| 1:05.2 | I was sitting right where I am now. |
| 1:10.0 | I was looking for the cubic feet of a particular refrigerator. And I just decided, okay, I've heard of chat GPT. |
| 1:13.6 | I'll give this a try. |
| 1:14.6 | And I was pretty much amazed at the comprehensive information that it gave me. |
| 1:20.6 | It was like a search engine, but better. |
| 1:23.6 | So Calder Quinn, whose voice you just heard, he started using it for other queries. |
| 1:29.3 | Over time, I kept asking more and more questions, but as I started to do that, |
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