ICYMI - Do Healthy Relationships To Chatbots Exist?
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Is AI romance inevitable? And who are the people in these relationships? Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls On The Internet, joins us to talk about her new audiobook Love At First Prompt, where she speaks to real people who have found solace and comfort with AI chatbots.
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This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, I'm Kate Lindsay, and you're listening to I See YMI or in case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture. |
| 0:20.7 | And before we dive into today's episode, I just want to say a really quick thank you to or in case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture. |
| 0:24.9 | And before we dive into today's episode, I just want to say a really quick thank you to everyone who came to our New York City live show earlier this week. |
| 0:28.6 | It was so great to get to meet listeners in person and spend time with some of our favorite |
| 0:33.3 | creators. |
| 0:34.4 | But today, I am coming at you from the studio. |
| 0:37.1 | I am joined by There Are No Girls on |
| 0:39.5 | the Internet host and Friend of the Pod, Bridget Todd. Welcome Bridget. |
| 0:43.2 | Kate, it is such a thrill to be here. Thanks for having me. We were just saying we're so excited |
| 0:47.9 | to finally meet because we, like Bridget is part of the ICYY in my universe, but I have yet to experience it. |
| 0:55.7 | And so I'm very excited for this. |
| 1:04.7 | Now, Bridget, though, you are also an author. |
| 1:07.5 | Your new book, Love at First Prompt, AI in the Future of Intimacy, is out now as an audio book from Simon & Schuster. |
| 1:15.0 | The book is specifically about the relationships between humans and AI companions. |
| 1:20.0 | And I think what sets your book apart from other coverage of this phenomenon is that you're not treating this as something weird or laughable. |
| 1:29.7 | You're coming from a place of like genuine curiosity and like empathy about it. |
| 1:34.7 | So what made you decide to take that approach? |
| 1:37.2 | Yeah, I once had a therapist who told me that curiosity and judgment cannot coexist. |
| 1:47.1 | And in thinking about the conversations that I was seeing pop up all over media and the internet around people who were reporting intimacy with AI, |
| 1:51.6 | whether they felt like they had a platonic relationship with AI, whether they felt like they had |
| 1:55.4 | a romance with AI, maybe they felt they were having a sexual relationship with AI, I was |
| 2:00.4 | really approaching those conversations with so much judgment that it was impossible for me to have the curiosity necessary to dig deeper. |
... |
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