Compelling Conversations - Artificial Intimacy: A Conversation with Sherry Turkle

Doors open at 11:45 and the first 75 guests will receive a free copy of the book.

This is the fifth installment of our Compelling Conversations series, where we welcome notable guests to engage our campus community on important contemporary issues. This conversation is a collaboration between the Provost’s Office, the School of Law, and the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education.

Dr. Sherry Turkle is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founding director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. Professor Turkle received a joint doctorate in sociology and personality psychology from Harvard University and is a licensed clinical psychologist. Professor Turkle writes on the “subjective side” of people’s relationships with technology, especially computers. She is an expert on culture and therapy, mobile technology, social networking, sociable robotics, and generative AI.

Her newest book, Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines (Little, Brown and Company, September 2026), examines our relationships with chatbots and captures the seductive, beguiling nature of our new faux companions. It traces their effects throughout a human life—from childhood to parenthood, from work to love and more—and warns that these machines are quietly reshaping us, teaching us to avoid risk, sidestep difficult conversations, deny grief, and relinquish skills that make us human: empathy, resilience, and the ability to navigate uncertainty.

Dr. Turkle will be in conversation with David Yosifon, Peter Canisius, S.J. Professor of Law, about her new book and its valuable contribution to understanding how we protect the things which make us human in an age of artificial intelligence.

Light refreshments will be available.