Story of the Week The Perils of Loving a Chatbot

Listen On:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify

Join Pushkin+

Gain access to ad-free versions of 20+ podcasts from the Pushkin library along with exclusive bonus episodes and other member benefits.

On the Replica app, you can create an AI-powered chatbot to talk to, befriend, sext and even virtually marry. The service has millions of users. Some of them are now discovering that having a friend or spouse that’s owned by a private company comes with downsides.

Pranshu Verma wrote “They fell in love with AI bots. A software update broke their hearts” for The Washington Post. You can read the full story here.

The Host

Joel Stein

Joel Stein, host of the Story of the Week podcast, has been a journalist for 25 years, including 20 at Time magazine where he wrote 22 cover stories. Stein has…