Understood: Artificial Intimacy

4.4 (463)
TECHNOLOGY
WEEKLY SERIES

What happens when a human becomes intimately enmeshed with a chatbot? From people who’ve married their bots or who grieve their loved ones with the help of AI, host Victoria Hetherington (author of The Friend Machine) dives into the stories of the people who have invited these digital avatars into their hearts, minds, and even beds. And asks what do we gain and what do we stand to lose? Our intimacy, our resilience, even our grasp on reality? This latest season of Understood looks at who made the decisions that allowed chatbots to move way beyond digital assistants and into the most intimate parts of our lives. Four episodes, releasing weekly starting Tuesday, May 19. Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet — we explore the stories that define our digital age with hosts and characters embedded in the heart of the action. Season 1 - The Naked Emperor: the rise and fall of bitcoin king Sam Bankman-Fried. Season 2 - The Pornhub Empire: the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry. Season 3 - Modi’s India: how one man rose from poverty to the peak of political power. Season 4 - Céline: the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created a superstar. Season 5 - Who Broke the Internet? The internet sucks now, and it happened on purpose. Season 6 - The Making of Elon Musk: exploring the little known side of the polarizing billionaire Season 7: Deepfake Porn Empire: the porn was fake. The fallout was real.

SEASON 8 TRAILER

Introducing Understood: Artificial Intimacy

The friend who never hangs up. The lover who always says the right thing. The therapist you always wanted. What could go wrong? A new season from CBC's Understood.

3 min

See All Season 8 (1)

Sam Cole

Host

4.4

out of 5

463 Ratings

Céline Dion Understood

2024-11-07

Nnapovic

Nice retrospective. Thank you Thomas.
Five stars for Sam

Feb 25

toerney

This is an important and timely piece of reporting.
Time to Open your eyes

Jan 25

Time to get based

The level of misinformation in this podcast is staggering. You guys need to start looking at facts before going on your race shaming tirade. This level of suicidal empathy is beyond harmful to all of western civilization.
Well done technically, but one sided.

Jan 1

Nickname1959$

Very one sided and paints a devious picture in order to outrage and hook you. Not responsible journalism IMO.

What happens when a human becomes intimately enmeshed with a chatbot? From people who’ve married their bots or who grieve their loved ones with the help of AI, host Victoria Hetherington (author of The Friend Machine) dives into the stories of the people who have invited these digital avatars into their hearts, minds, and even beds. And asks what do we gain and what do we stand to lose? Our intimacy, our resilience, even our grasp on reality? This latest season of Understood looks at who made the decisions that allowed chatbots to move way beyond digital assistants and into the most intimate parts of our lives. Four episodes, releasing weekly starting Tuesday, May 19. Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet — we explore the stories that define our digital age with hosts and characters embedded in the heart of the action. Season 1 - The Naked Emperor: the rise and fall of bitcoin king Sam Bankman-Fried. Season 2 - The Pornhub Empire: the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry. Season 3 - Modi’s India: how one man rose from poverty to the peak of political power. Season 4 - Céline: the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created a superstar. Season 5 - Who Broke the Internet? The internet sucks now, and it happened on purpose. Season 6 - The Making of Elon Musk: exploring the little known side of the polarizing billionaire Season 7: Deepfake Porn Empire: the porn was fake. The fallout was real.