The crisis in conversation has taken a new turn: first we talked to each other through our machines, now, chatbots tempt us to talk to machines … to seek empathy from objects that can only offer its performance.

When chatbots perform empathy, people begin to feel that the performance of empathy is empathy enough. The technology challenges us to assert ourselves and our human values, which means that we have to figure out what those values are. news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/…

This article surveys the field of artificial intimacy and empathy. In it, I insist: “It’s a sad moment when we think that being lonely can be fixed by an interaction with something that has no idea about what it is to be born, about what it is to die.” newscientist.com/article/mg2613…

We celebrate a return to the warmth of the voice, but why don’t we want to have a conversation? nytimes.com/2024/02/23/sty…

I always look forward to conversations with Robert Siegal! And his other guests are awesome! Brian Merchant Jean Twenge (author of GENERATIONS, iGEN)

Such a turning point interview Aspen Ideas as I considered empathy and our divided country. Empathy has been misunderstood. It’s not a strategy for agreement but also a strategy for embracing radical differences. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…

When I spoke at the HarvardSTS Kennedy School conference on AI and Democracy. I spoke on Artificial Intimacy - our new AI. I asked, “Who are we becoming when our conversation partners are machines?” As individuals? In relationships? As citizens? news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/…

It was such an honor to keynote HarvardSTS's conference on Artificial Intelligence and Democracy. I loved the discussion with Sheila Jasonoff and David Kennedy.  And the pertinent questions from the audience. A highlight of my year!

Loved the shout out in the Guardian for my article on 'Silicon Valley Fairy Dust,' on the ideology of Silicon Valley. It seems more relevant now than ever. crookedtimber.org/2023/11/06/sil…

Your help is needed with my research on people’s emotional connections with generative AI. If you use AI for conversations, advice, or companionship, my team would love to talk to you. Participation is confidential and you can stop at any time. Learn more sherryturkle.com/talking-to-tec….

A brave podcast. I’m looking forward.

So thrilled to be awarded this grant to study the emotional effects of generative AI. MIT scholars awarded seed grants to probe the social implications of generative AI | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology news.mit.edu/2023/mit-schol…

I’m writing a book on artificial intimacy and talked to The Wall Street Journal reporter Cordilia James about the limitations of pretend empathy. Simulated thinking may be thinking, simulated feeling is not feeling, and simulated love is not love. wsj.com/articles/when-…

“Times of change are the times of greatest cultural creativity; everything is infused with new meanings.”

Today’s WIRED Classics revisits our 1996 profile of Sherry Turkle, one of the foremost thinkers on the culture of technology and its impact on our lives. wired.com/2008/02/ff-fre…

So pleased to be a WIRED “classic” Eve Sneider. I am reminded that optimism about technology's possibilities can only be sustained if people take action to turn technology into our human purposes — this demands that people clarify these purposes. link.wired.com/view/5bdf4a210…

AI will change the workplace; I suggest it will change us as well. wsj.com/articles/how-a…

Talking on a panel led by Robert Siegal about “Who’s Afraid of Artificial Intelligence” was, as expected, a pleasure. The video of that webinar is now up at youtu.be/lWm23iZvxlA. Robert Siegal is, as everyone knows, the master of the engaged conversation. I always learn.

A pleasure to be on this episode.