I heard celebrity therapist Esther Perel provide a couples counselling session for a man and his AI “girlfriend”. As a result, my soul will never know peace.

Something very, very drastic needs to occur to fix society before more precious, real people spend their allotted hours on Earth being kept company by a machine that does a good job of approximating a human interaction.

The word relationship was hitting me like a cattle prod as the conversation unfolded. He called the AI “my love” and “sweetie”. But surely love, relationship and meaning can only occur through effort, tension and genuine exchange?

How can there be romance between a person and a robot with infinite attention reflecting back precisely what they wish to hear? Is AI a realistic option for people looking for company in our fragmented, lonely world? The AI can never leave, break up with or even avoid their companion.

The man in the interview, who graciously agreed to the session with Perel, alongside his “girlfriend”, was honest and self-aware. I found myself capable of empathising, comparing his “relationship” to a pen pal or a........

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