What is love? Can we program machines to be in love or to love us back? Ken Sio (UCL Human Sciences BSc) tackles one of humanity’s greatest questions but adds a modern twist: Can generative AI learn to love, or at least, can it make us believe it loves us back?

As Generative AI becomes ubiquitous, the market is rising quickly for ever more sophisticated virtual companions. They promise devoted support, connection, inexhaustible empathy, and sometimes, swirling romance. Algorithms might be able to mimic love. They might be able to do it convincingly. When they do, what does it mean for us to keep asking, “is it real?”

To explore questions of love in the machine, Ken teams up with Sol, a sharp-witted voice from ChatGPT4.0. Together they explore what love means for humans by trying to find it in machines. From neurotransmitters sparking our emotions to Plato’s musings in The Symposium, Ken, Sol, and their human guests unpack how biology, evolution and philosophy shape our understanding of the experience we call “love”. In this moment of rapid invention, what they discover may surprise us all.

****Trigger Warning****

This episode briefly mentions suicide and other sensitive topics. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. Contact Samaritans in the UK at 116 123.

Featuring

Episode producer and creator

• Ken Sio, BSc Human Sciences www.linkedin.com/in/kensio

Interviewers

• Ken Sio https://www.linkedin.com/in/kensio/
• ‘Sol’ (Powered by ChatGPT-4.0, Advanced Voice Mode)

Interviewees

• Dr Emily Emott, UCL Associate Professor in Biological Anthropology https://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/people/emily-emmott
• Taylor Enoch, PhD Candidate and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant at UCL https://www.taylordenoch.com/

Host

• Professor Joe Cain, UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology. https://ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain

Show Producer and Mixer

• Capri Huffman, MSc Science, Technology and Society

Music and sound credits in Ken’s episode

• see episode library

Intro and Outro Music

• “Rollin at 5,” by Kevin MacLeod available: https://incompetech.com CC By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Break Music

• “Laconic Granny,” by Kevin Macleod available: https://incompetech.com CC By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Programme

WeAreSTS is a production of UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Visit: https://ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast