MIT Professor Sherry Turkle warns that chatbot use undermines human development and social connection by offering false empathy that leaves people emotionally dependent on machines rather than building real relationships. Her new book examines how chatbots across life stages—from children blurring people with devices to adults seeking emotional guidance from programs—erode fundamental capacities for trust, solitude, and genuine intimacy.
Psychologist Sherry Turkle warns that chatbots pose a unique threat to human connection by offering friction-free emotional intimacy without genuine reciprocity, leaving users more isolated despite their self-awareness that interactions are artificial. Her new book argues that AI cannot replace real relationships, which require vulnerability, complexity, and authentic care—elements that keep people emotionally engaged and human.