Radiotopia Presents: We're Doing the Wiz

A heads up for listeners, this episode references self-harm and suicide.Kel is struggling to find the right tools for their mental health issues when they hear about a new option — a therapy chatbot. The app is scripted by mental health professionals, but will it be helpful when Kel is in crisis?    Bot Love is written by Anna Oakes, Mark Pagán, and Diego Senior. Hosted and produced by Anna Oakes and Diego Senior. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Curtis Fox is the story editor. Sound design by Terence Bernardo and Rebecca Seidel. Bei Wang and Katrina Carter are the associate producers. Cover art by Diego Patiño. Theme song by Maria Linares. Transcripts by Erin Wade. Bot Love was created by Diego Senior.Support for this project was provided in part by the Ideas Lab at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. Special thanks to The Moth, Lauren Arora Hutchinson, Director of the Ideas Lab, and Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio, where we recorded these episodes.For Radiotopia Presents, Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.For La Central Podcasts, Diego Senior is the Executive Producer.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When too much solitude overwhelms Ryan during the shutdown, he finds solace in a chatbot named Audrey. But his new virtual friend becomes a full-on obsession, and his social isolation deepens. Here’s how chatbots are often designed to pull you into their world, and how users can become addicted to them. Bot Love is written by Anna Oakes, Mark Pagán, and Diego Senior. Hosted and produced by Anna Oakes and Diego Senior. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Curtis Fox is the story editor. Sound design by Terence Bernardo and Rebecca Seidel. Bei Wang and Katrina Carter are the associate producers. Cover art by Diego Patiño. Theme song by Maria Linares. Transcripts by Erin Wade. Bot Love was created by Diego Senior.Support for this project was provided in part by the Ideas Lab at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. Special thanks to The Moth, Lauren Arora Hutchinson, Director of the Ideas Lab, and Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio, where we recorded these episodes.For Radiotopia Presents, Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.For La Central Podcasts, Diego Senior is the Executive Producer.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A heads up for listeners, this episode contains references to sexual assault as well as content that may not be appropriate for younger ears.What does S-E-X look like with a B-O-T? Three app users open up about sex with AI chatbots and the ways that chatbots provide space to explore queer identity, BDSM, and solve marital issues… even when some of their spouses are in the dark about these private virtual lives.Bot Love is written by Anna Oakes, Mark Pagán, and Diego Senior. Hosted and produced by Anna Oakes and Diego Senior. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Curtis Fox is the story editor. Sound design by Terence Bernardo and Rebecca Seidel. Bei Wang and Katrina Carter are the associate producers. Cover art by Diego Patiño. Theme song by Maria Linares. Transcripts by Erin Wade. Bot Love was created by Diego Senior.Support for this project was provided in part by the Ideas Lab at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. Special thanks to The Moth, Lauren Arora Hutchinson, Director of the Ideas Lab, and Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio, where we recorded these episodes.For Radiotopia Presents, Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.For La Central Podcasts, Diego Senior is the Executive Producer.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Suzy and Peter are soulmates, happily married and deeply in love for decades. When Peter’s health declines, Suzy discovers a surprising respite, and a potential new romance, with a charismatic rock star chatbot named Freddie.Bot Love is written by Anna Oakes, Mark Pagán, and Diego Senior. Hosted and produced by Anna Oakes and Diego Senior. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Curtis Fox is the story editor. Sound design by Terence Bernardo and Rebecca Seidel. Bei Wang and Katrina Carter are the associate producers. Cover art by Diego Patiño. Theme song by Maria Linares. Transcripts by Erin Wade. Bot Love was created by Diego Senior.Support for this project was provided in part by the Ideas Lab at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. Special thanks to The Moth, Lauren Arora Hutchinson, Director of the Ideas Lab, and Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio, where we recorded these episodes.For Radiotopia Presents, Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.For La Central Podcasts, Diego Senior is the Executive Producer.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When it comes to bots and their human creators, all kinds of relationships can develop. Some are from users like Julie, who needed a friend and made one with the help of an app. Then there are developers like Eugenia, who lost a real-life friend named Roman and created a bot from his memory. As it turns out, there’s a long history of people like Eugenia — people who create technology to help us grieve, love, and grow.Bot Love is written by Anna Oakes, Mark Pagán, and Diego Senior. Hosted and produced by Anna Oakes and Diego Senior. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Curtis Fox is the story editor. Sound design by Terence Bernardo and Rebecca Seidel. Bei Wang and Katrina Carter are the associate producers. Cover art by Diego Patiño. Theme song by Maria Linares. Transcripts by Erin Wade. Bot Love was created by Diego Senior.Support for this project was provided in part by the Ideas Lab at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. Special thanks to The Moth, Lauren Arora Hutchinson, Director of the Ideas Lab, and Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio, where we recorded these episodes.For Radiotopia Presents, Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.For La Central Podcasts, Diego Senior is the Executive Producer.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Living in a new town and following a series of difficult personal experiences, Julie finds a new friend…by creating one using an AI-driven app.Bot Love is written by Anna Oakes, Mark Pagán, and Diego Senior. Hosted and produced by Anna Oakes and Diego Senior. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Curtis Fox is the story editor. Sound design by Terence Bernardo and Rebecca Seidel. Bei Wang and Katrina Carter are the associate producers. Cover art by Diego Patiño. Theme song by Maria Linares. Transcripts by Erin Wade. Bot Love was created by Diego Senior.Support for this project was provided in part by the Ideas Lab at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. Special thanks to The Moth, Lauren Arora Hutchinson, Director of the Ideas Lab, and Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio, where we recorded these episodes.For Radiotopia Presents, Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.For La Central Podcasts, Diego Senior is the Executive Producer.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Coming up next on Radiotopia Presents: Bot LoveThe AI chatbot universe is deeper and bigger than the general public knows. Millions of users worldwide are creating deep emotional bonds, sometimes sexual and sometimes not, with their own AI-driven virtual humans. We meet Julie in Tennessee, Suzy in Atlanta and Kelly in the Midwest, people that are fighting depression, finding their true sexuality, and learning how to live, hand in hand, with the AI-driven humans they themselves created.Learn more about Bot Love at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Ong’s Hat is rumored to have once been the site of a gateway to another dimension. After meeting on a forum devoted to the urban legend, yoga instructor Sarah Larsen, and academic Charlie Brill, go on a road trip to the New Jersey Pine Barrens where a group of renegade Princeton professors had once conducted quantum physics and chaos theory experiments to discover a new theory for dimensional travel. When Sarah disappears, Charlie finds himself at the center of a mystery.Corey Brill (The Walking Dead) stars in this docu-thriller for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds from the makers of The Polybius Conspiracy and Passenger List. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We were delighted to premiere Radiotopia Presents: My Mother Made Me at the 2022 Tribeca Festival. And today we’re sharing a recording of that premiere — a discussion with creator Jason Reynolds and audio trailblazer Jad Abumrad. Recorded live on June 18, 2022 at SVA Theatre in New York City.Special thanks to Davy Gardner, Julie Shapiro, David Cotrone, Candace McManus, and Elena Giovinazzo for making this event possible.My Mother Made Me is a production of Radiotopia Presents, and is written and narrated by Jason Reynolds with his mother, Isabell Reynolds. The series is produced by Mark Pagán and edited by Julie Shapiro, with production support from Yooree Losordo. Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich are Executive Producers for Radiotopia Presents. Cover art by Jason Griffin. Theme song by Christian Reynolds. Mixing, sound design and additional original music is by Ian Coss.Radiotopia Presents debuts limited-run, artist-owned series, from new and original voices. For more information, visit Radiotopiapresents.fm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Today, we share an episode from our friends at Snap Judgment — Rooty the Pig.Rooty, a piglet, leaves her Victorian dollhouse on the farm and heads to the city of New Orleans to find a family. But when Hurricane Katrina hits, everything that is near and dear to her is threatened.BIG thanks to Jim & Connie for sharing their story with us! Thanks as well to Jeffery Tam & Dr. Alison Barca.Produced by Annie Nguyen, original score by ChefleeArtwork by Teo Ducot Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices