Heavy Metal

Reasons you might want to talk to a computer: fantasy, dominance, privacy, confession, and the appeal of pushing the boundaries of consciousness. Simple fact is that there’s no greater pleasure than a good chat.

Sweet Nothings, The New Yorker, March 16, 2026

Perhaps the promise of A.I. machine-companionship is not the illusion of another person at the end of the exchange, but the assurance that there is actually no one there at all.