A captivating and uncanny journey to the frontier ofhuman-computer interaction, exploring what happens to our relationships witheach other as artificial intelligence enters our personal lives.

Friends. Lovers. Therapists. ‘Deathbots’. AI is taking onunprecedented roles for millions of us every day but how are these new’relationships’ rewiring us?

Beyond those who are using chatbots for everyday tasks, manyare turning to them as friends, mentors and sexual and romantic partners. Someare men who are preparing to adopt children with their AI partners; others arereaching out to companies offering ‘deathbot’ services based on a deceasedloved one’s text messages and voicemails; others still look to therapy bots tofind treatment for their mental health issues.

In Love Machines, James Muldoon examines these new forms oflove, in-timacy and connection, drawing on myriad interviews with users anddevelopers from around the world as well as psychologists, academics andchatbots themselves. As he navigates these interactions, Muldoon asks whetherthey might one day be a replacement for the relationships we have with eachother, while also revealing how the unregulated corporations facili-tating themare seeking to profit from an emerging ‘loneliness economy’.

As the line between the digital and the real becomesincreasingly blurred, and in a world that feels lonelier by the day, LoveMachines is a timely survey of the next generation of human-computerrelationships and how they are not only changing our relationship withtechnology, but with each other.

‘AI began at our desks, drafting emails . . . Now wewhisper secrets to it.’

About the Author

James Muldoon is a Reader in Management at the EssexBusiness School and a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute.

He is the author of five books, including Feeding theMachine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI with Mark Graham and Callum Cant.

His work has appeared in theGuardian,LosAngeles Times,TIME, and the BBC, among other platforms.