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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.
A machine that never judges us may also teach us to forget how human relationships work.
Writer’s Voice talks with Victoria Hetherington about The Friend Machine, her investigation into people who seek friendship, therapy and love from AI. We explore loneliness, simulated care, privacy, emotional dependence and the extraordinary power of the corporations building these systems.
“That’s probably my primary concern, that moral de-skilling might occur.” — Victoria Hetherington
Then, we revisit our 2025 conversation with Silvia Park about her sci-fi novel Luminous. Set in a reunified future Korea, the novel follows a family whose estranged siblings include two humans and a robot.
“What I really question is, if robots exist in this world, would they serve as an outlet or would they amplify our dark urges?” — Silvia Park
Together, these books grapple with salient questions arising from AI and monopoly corporate power. Can programmed affection become love? And what does how we treat A.I. entities say about ourselves?
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You might also like: Bruce Holsinger on AI’s Moral Dilemmas, Ray Nayler on AI and Autocracy
Tags: Victoria Hetherington, The Friend Machine, Silvia Park, Luminous, AI companions, artificial intelligence, AI friendship, AI therapy, sentient robots, AI ethics, AI privacy, Writer’s Voice
Victoria Hetherington, The Friend Machine
What happens when an AI companion becomes your closest friend, your therapist, or even your romantic partner?
Victoria Hetherington’s The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship investigates why people form powerful emotional bonds with chatbots.
Hetherington finds that the real story isn’t whether AI is conscious. It’s why so many of us are ready to treat it as if it were.
In our conversation, We talk about loneliness, simulated care, AI therapy, privacy, and the risks of replacing difficult human relationships with frictionless digital ones. We also ask what guardrails are needed when a handful of enormously powerful companies control technologies that can learn our most intimate secrets.
Victoria Hetherington is a journalist, broadcaster, and author whose work explores technology, intimacy, and what it means to be human in an AI-driven world.
Silvia Park, Luminous (re-air)
Set in a reunified Korea, Luminous follows a family with a unique dynamic: two human siblings and their robot brother Yo-Yo.
The novel explores complex relationships between humans and robots, examining questions of love, memory, and what constitutes consciousness.
Silvia Park Interview: Key Topics
- How AI and robotics shape a reunified Korea post-war
- The role of robots in family structures—caretakers, siblings, even romantic partners
- The central mystery of Yo-Yo, a robot who defies expectations and may possess a soul
- The ethical dilemmas of AI companionship and whether love can be programmed
- Morgan’s struggle with creating a robotic boyfriend who loves her—but is he real?
- Jun’s identity as a transgender war veteran and his struggle with his cybernetic body
- How society’s treatment of robots reflects historical patterns of oppression and dehumanization
- The dark undercurrent of ritualized violence against AI and its parallels to human history
- The philosophical question: If AI surpasses us in intelligence and empathy, what happens next?