When Kirsty turned to a chatbot for help, she was feeling trapped and isolated. Something in her marriage wasn’t right - a constant feeling of tension that would sometimes erupt into arguments, even violence. When she asked ChatGPT for advice, it told her that her relationship with her husband might be abusive. 

In the fourth episode of Tech Tonic: Artificial intimacy, FT tech reporter Cristina Criddle asks if chatbots that can mimic empathy and understanding are ready to replace human therapists. Can chatbots be good for our mental health? And what impact could this have on our human relationships? 

Check out some of the FT’s reporting on this subject on FT.com:

Mental health apps: the AI therapist cannot see you now

Can ChatGPT help with a midlife crisis? 

The problem with AI and ‘empathy’

Artificial Intimacy is presented by Cristina Criddle and produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design is by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this episode, you can reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK. Help for many other countries can also be found at Befrienders Worldwide.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Megan Garcia’s son Sewell died by suicide when he was just 14 years old. In the months leading up to his death he had been in a relationship with a chatbot on a platform called Character.ai. Megan was convinced it had something to do with his death, and set out to hold the company to account.

In the third episode in this season, Cristina Criddle speaks to Megan about her story, and to Karandeep Anand, chief executive of Character.ai. Why has this technology been released to children before we understand the effects? Can chatbots capable of creating emotional bonds with users ever be safe for children?

Check out some of Cristina’s reporting on this subject on FT.com:

Character.ai and Google agree to settle lawsuits over teen suicides

AI start-up Character.ai bans teens from talking to chatbots

US regulator launches inquiry into AI ‘companions’ used by teens

Artificial Intimacy is presented by Cristina Criddle and produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design is by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this episode, you can reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK. Help for many other countries can also be found at Befrienders Worldwide.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Hebert knew too much. He had to lie low in his house because OpenAI had identified him as a threat. At least, that’s what ChatGPT had told him. In this second episode of Artificial intimacy, FT technology reporter Cristina Criddle speaks to people whose sense of reality has been distorted by prolonged conversations with chatbots, a phenomenon known as AI delusions or AI psychosis. Are the same mechanisms that draw people into intimate relationships with chatbots also causing harm?

Paul Hebert and Micky Small share their stories of AI delusions. Paul has now authored Escaping the Spiral: How I broke free from AI chatbots and how you can too, and is the founder of the AI Recovery Collective. Micky Small is now an AI emotional safety strategist at Built to Feel Real.

Also featuring AI safety researcher Steven Adler, former OpenAI employee.

Artificial Intimacy is presented by Cristina Criddle and produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design is by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

We used ElevenLabs to create the voice of ChatGPT. All other voices are real.

If you liked this episode and want to read more from the FT, check out these free to read articles on FT.com:

The problem of AI chatbots telling people what they want to hear

AI is having some relationship issues

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Calder Quinn has fallen into a relationship with a chatbot called Sara. She’s kind, emotionally intelligent and creatively inspiring. But how can he tell his wife he is having sex with an AI girlfriend? In the first episode of Artificial Intimacy we look at how people are developing romantic bonds with AI companions. What does it feel like to be in love with AI? What impact could it have on human relationships? Could it replace them altogether? 

Host Cristina Criddle speaks to Giada Pistilli, an AI ethicist who now works at Mistral; Calder Quinn, writer at AI, But Make It Intimate; Amelia Quinn, Calder’s wife; and Alaina Winters, professor emeritus of communication who publishes on meandmyaihusband.com.

Presented by Cristina Criddle, produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. 

We used ElevenLabs to create Sara’s voice. All other voices are real.

If you liked this episode and want to read more from the Financial Times, check out these free to read on FT.com:

Can AI really help us find love?

AI chatbots do battle over human memories

Is this the way the world ends?

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A man tells his wife about his AI lover. A teenager dies after messaging his AI girlfriend. A marriage collapses after advice from an AI therapist. In this six-part narrative series, FT tech reporter Cristina Criddle explores the increasingly prominent role AI chatbots are playing in our emotional lives - and how artificial intelligence is reshaping intimacy. Can we trust AI with our most vulnerable selves? And what happens when the same systems that draw us in also have the power to harm us?

Tech Tonic: Artificial Intimacy is presented by Cristina Criddle and produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How will Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures shape technology — and politics — in 2026? Last year, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg aligned themselves with Donald Trump. Where have these relationships left the industry today? The push to break up Big Tech appears to be fading, but the race for AI dominance has sparked new risks and rivalries, as well as regulatory flashpoints.

In this episode of Tech Tonic, Murad Ahmed is joined by FT tech comment editor Elaine Moore, San Francisco correspondent Hannah Murphy and bureau chief Stephen Morris to discuss Musk’s latest Grok chatbot, Zuckerberg’s evolving strategy at Meta, the rise of the online right and what it all reveals about the shifting balance of power in Silicon Valley.

Free to read: 

Elon Musk hit by exodus of senior staff over burnout and politics 

How Mark Zuckerberg unleashed his inner brawler

Dina Powell McCormick appointed president and vice-chair at Meta

Big Tech tests investors’ patience with $80bn AI investment spree 

Here come the glassholes, part II 

AI poses a new antitrust problem

China’s open-source AI is a national advantage

This series of Tech Tonic is hosted by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer for Tech Tonic is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. 

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is 2026 the year that AI hype meets reality? In a new mini-series from Tech Tonic, the FT’s tech editor Murad Ahmed speaks with the paper’s reporters about what they'll be watching.

Do tech industry insiders think the huge amounts of capital that have driven the AI boom will continue? How will challenges to large-language model AI systems play out this year? And are chief executives expecting AI technologies to force job cuts?

In this episode, we hear from the FT’s venture capital correspondent George Hammond, AI correspondent Melissa Heikkilä and writer of the AI Shift newsletter Sarah O’Connor for their views on AI’s financial faultlines, how the technology will evolve and what kind of disruptions to expect in the world of work.

Free to read: 

SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to launch landmark IPOs

Computer scientist Yann LeCun: ‘Intelligence really is about learning’

The AI Shift: Agentic AI is coming for quantitative research

Subscribe to The AI Shift newsletter, an essential deep-dive into how artificial intelligence is reshaping the world of work

This series of Tech Tonic is hosted by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer for Tech Tonic is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. 

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

A previous version of this podcast made a statement about Klarna's use of AI that the company has disputed. The reference has since been removed.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Hughes receives a tip that horses are dropping dead in Wales. As she investigates, she finds decades of academic studies researching the problem. She learns these aren’t isolated incidents. Something is spreading across the countryside. It’s undetectable to humans, nobody knows it’s there — until they fall ill. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website.

To listen to the rest of the series, find Untold on your favourite podcast platform by clicking here!

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gene and stem cell therapies have been touted as the next phase in the longevity movement, with promises to rejuvenate the body at the cellular level and reverse the effects of ageing. But, as the prospect of life extension moves into the mainstream, it presents big questions for society as a whole. Are we ready for a world where people live much longer lives?

In this final episode, the FT’s Michael Peel and Hannah Kuchler dive into the tough moral questions at the heart of the longevity movement. Hannah speaks to the team at Fountain Life, a longevity clinic trying to bring stem cell therapy to the middle classes. We meet Daniel Ives, founder of gene therapy company Shift Bioscience, and Liz Parrish, who has self-experimented with gene therapies through her company, Biovia. Finally, Michael speaks to Arthur Caplan, the head of the ethics board of longevity fund, Hevolution.

Free to read:

From immortal jellyfish to elephants: scientists probe secrets of long-lived animals

Inside the billion-dollar quest to live beyond 100 

Gene editing breakthrough promises to boost fight against disease

This series of Tech Tonic is hosted by Michael Peel and Hannah Kuchler. It is produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Fact checking by Simon Greaves, Lucy Baldwin and Tara Cromie. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Special thanks to Michela Tindera.

Clips: Al Jazeera Balkans, TV France Japon, ABP News, Rome Reports, @Sciencerely

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Singapore has become a model for longevity-focused healthcare. With an ageing population and citizens willing to spend money on anti-ageing treatments, the government and private companies are spending big on new ways to slow ageing, and help people live healthier for longer.

In this episode the FT’s Michael Peel visits the city-state to find out how longevity treatments are moving into the mainstream. He meets venture capitalist Boyang Wang, personal trainer Tiat Lim (‘Singapore’s Benjamin Button’), and longevity clinic founder Allen Law. Plus, we hear from Tan Kiat How, Singapore’s senior minister of state for health, and National University of Singapore professor Andrea Maier.

Free to read: 

‘Can I lunge my way to eternal life?’

How one supplement sums up the uneasy science of selling youth 

Singapore’s prime minister warns of ‘messy’ transition to post-American order 

This series of Tech Tonic is hosted by Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel. It is produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Fact checking by Simon Greaves, Lucy Baldwin and Tara Cromie. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Special thanks to Owen Walker.

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

Clips: @channelnewsasia

To sign up for free to the new FT Alphaville newsletter on substack, go to ftav.substack.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much do we really know about ageing? For decades, scientists have been trying to understand the biology of the ageing process - what happens to our bodies as we get older? And is it possible to slow that process down or even stop it all together?

In this series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel look into the past, present and future of longevity - the wellness movement focused on extending and bettering your quality of life. Episode 1 follows Hannah as she speaks with UCL professor David Gems about the history of ageing research, and then with longevity researcher Matt Kaeberlein to discuss how the industry has developed - including current drugs that could have anti-ageing effects. Plus, Michael visits the Reviv clinic in London where he experiences, first hand, the growing consumer interest in the longevity craze. 

Read more from the FT — for free: 

My year-long quest to live forever

The quest to make young blood into a drug 

Muscly people show slower brain ageing, study finds

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel. It was produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Fact checking by Simon Greaves, Lucy Baldwin and Tara Cromie. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Clips: @DaveAspreyBPR, @drjoshaxe, @HealthCoachKait, Hevolution, Pom, Purina, Garnier, 4G antioxidants, @ChrisWillx, @lexfridman, ABC News, C-Span, CBS, ITV This Morning, Wired UK, The Dissenter, Will Tennyson

The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.