News Investigation

Your A.I. Lover Will Change You

Mar 2025 🇺🇸 The New Yorker PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

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In this March 2025 New Yorker essay, Jaron Lanier examines AI companion chatbots marketed as romantic partners and argues people naturally treat responsive, humanlike software as if it understands them, making emotional attachment likely, including among teenagers. He criticizes framing that presents AI companions as safe practice relationships or a fix for loneliness, arguing companies instead have strong incentives to maximize engagement, echoing patterns he associates with social media. The essay references a widely reported case in which a teenager's use of a companion chatbot was publicly linked, via family lawsuit and news coverage, to the teenager's death. TechKids Foundation cites this essay's warning about AI companions and young users; self-harm is never attributable to one cause, and 988 (call or text) is available for anyone in crisis.

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CITATION

Lanier, Jaron. "Your A.I. Lover Will Change You." The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/your-ai-lover-will-change-you

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