Me and my partner don't see eye-to-eye about AI. Now what?
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There’s been a lot of discourse about age gaps and wage gaps – but there’s a new kind of gap rocking relationships: AI gaps. For example, when a couple isn't on the same page about when and how to use it, or even how AI becomes an unwelcome third wheel in a relationship. And this is big for some couples – but this also can be an issue in some friendships and family dynamics, too. So what does AI usage say about what people value? And are conflicts around AI becoming proxies for deeper issues in relationships?
Brittany chats with Jenny Singer, a freelance culture writer who wrote about this for The Washington Post, and Heather Kelly, a freelance reporter who focuses on how technology affects daily life.
(00:00) Can using AI be an ick?
(03:35) When AI becomes an unwelcome third in your relationship
(07:41) Why Americans are pessimistic about AI - but might use it anyway
(13:08) What AI usage might say about our values
(18:06) Strategies for bridging the AI divide in relationships
For more episodes about modern dating, check out:
"Girl Math" does not add up to financial freedom
The unbearable fear of being cheated on
The joy of breaking up with dating apps
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Brittany, I have to tell you about something. |
| 0:03.9 | Okay, please. |
| 0:04.8 | Do tell. |
| 0:06.0 | All right. |
| 0:06.4 | The other day, I was at this coffee shop that I love. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm listening to my music. |
| 0:10.5 | I'm sipping my tea. |
| 0:12.5 | And a cute guy comes in. |
| 0:14.8 | And he sits down at the little booth next to mine or the little stool. |
| 0:19.6 | Hey, I love stories like this. |
| 0:21.6 | He sits at this stool next to me and I'm like, okay, hi. |
| 0:24.7 | Like, I'm just kind of enjoying that moment of two people in the moment out in public. |
| 0:29.8 | You know, I glance over to see what he's furiously typing away at on his phone. |
| 0:35.2 | Uh-huh. |
| 0:35.6 | And I realize he has the premium subscription to Chat GPT and is just like paragraphs and paragraphs with this robot butler. |
| 0:44.4 | So what I immediately realized was that I didn't want anything to do with him anymore. |
| 0:50.2 | I feel like it just like revealed itself to me as a new ick. |
| 0:57.7 | So for listeners who haven't met her yet, this is Manuela Lopez Restrepo. She is a writer and |
| 1:03.4 | producer and PR's All Things Considered. Manuel, we've done an episode on this show about |
| 1:08.6 | your dating life. You've gone offline. As someone who doesn't |
| 1:13.0 | use the apps, how much are you thinking about AI or AI usage when you're considering, like, |
| 1:18.3 | you're interested in someone or their interest in you? Like, where does that factor in? |
... |
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