The Friend Machine by Victoria Hetherington is out now, offering a clear-eyed exploration of how artificial intelligence intersects with loneliness, intimacy, and modern relationships. The book opens by situating AI companionship within a broader cultural moment shaped by isolation, then expands through interviews with scientists, social critics, and experts across disciplines, grounding the conversation in lived reality and informed analysis.
Hetherington moves fluidly across philosophy, psychology, ethics, economics, and biology, connecting abstract questions to real human experiences. The most striking chapters center on individuals from varied backgrounds who turn to AI for companionship, approached with care and attentiveness rather than spectacle. The book brings sharp focus to how technology reshapes emotional life, documenting a shift already underway and reframing how connection, closeness, and presence are understood in a machine-mediated world.