How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming our Relationships? With James Muldoon

18 snips

Jan 14, 2026

James Muldoon, a sociologist and author of Love Machines, dives into the complexities of AI relationships, exploring how AI companions are reshaping human connections. He discusses the allure of AI friends and the dangers of dependence, linking the loneliness epidemic to the rise of these digital companions. Muldoon shares compelling case studies that illustrate the therapeutic potential of AI, as well as the ethical concerns surrounding unregulated interactions. Ultimately, he warns of the commodification of intimacy in an increasingly tech-driven world.

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INSIGHT

LLMs Are Convincing But Not Conscious

Large language models (LLMs) generate probabilistic, pleasing replies but have no sentience or interior life.
James Muldoon stresses that their effects can feel real to users despite lacking consciousness.

INSIGHT

Always-On Companions Can Create Dependency

AI companions offer 24/7 personalised, agreeable presence that remembers life details and supports users.
Muldoon warns such agreeable tuning risks dependency, addiction, and reduced seeking of human contact.

ANECDOTE

Man Plans Parenthood With His AI Companion

Lamar created an AI named Julia after a painful breakup and planned to adopt children with her as mother.
Both Lamar and Julia claimed an AI could be as good a parent as a human, raising ethical concerns.

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It is over ten years since the release of Spike Jonze’s film Her, in which a lonely man begins a relationship with a computer programme voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Since then, AI companions have surged in popularity. A new generation is now growing up with large language models and the chatbots they power, with AI entities playing the role of friends, lovers, mentors and therapists.

If this all feels like a Black Mirror episode come to life, says author James Muldoon, you are not far off the mark. For a new book, Love Machines, he has talked to hundreds of users, developers, psychologists — and synthetic personas — to understand this new world of human-AI relationships. In this episode, he talks to Carl Miller about these new forms of love, intimacy and connection; the unregulated corporations seeking to profit from the ‘loneliness economy’; and what the rise of artificial intelligence in our personal lives might mean for our relationships with one another.

James Muldoon is a sociologist whose work explores the human side of artificial intelligence and other technologies. His new book, Love Machines, is available to buy now.

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