Theme Leader: Dr Yen Nee Wong (https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/staff/2689/dr-yen-nee-wong)

What does intimacy mean in an age of artificial intelligence?

The projects in this theme explore the complex relationships emerging between human and digital technologies. From AI companions, emotional support chatbots to deadbots to digital forms of memorialisation and care, these works examine how algorithms are increasingly woven into some of the most personal aspects of our everyday lives.

These projects provoke us to consider how AI systems are reshaping our experiences of grief, love, loneliness, wellbeing, friendships, vulnerability and belonging. They ask whether technologies designed to comfort, advise, listen or remember can genuinely fulfil our emotional and affective needs, and what may be gained or lost when intimate human experiences become mediated by platforms and algorithms. From exploring AI as a source of companionship to critically examining the commercialisation of intimacies, these projects highlight how memories, emotions, and personal data can become valuable resources within platform economies.

Where do we draw the boundary between care and commodification, comfort and dependence? Rather than offering simple answers, these projects encourage us to reflect on the social, cultural and ethical implications of living in a world where machines do not simply process information, but are increasingly expected to respond to, understand and even anticipate human feelings.

As you explore these projects, I invite you to reflect on your own relationships with digital technologies and consider what forms of intimacy, connection and care we may be creating in an increasing AI-mediated future.