Smartphones – self-soothing object or a habitual intimacy irritant? Understand and mitigate the negative impacts of the “phonedemic” on your sex lives! Read my 91st article here!
And enjoy some of my other recent articles for FutureofSex.net too!
By the way, I’ll be reaching my goal of 100 columns for Future of Sex by the end of 2025! That’s going to feel pretty good! I’d love readers to tell me which columns have been good for them too!
This book is so much more than you think! Free for a limited time on Amazon Unlimited and with a trial membership to Audible. If you like it, please leave an Amazon review!
How to Make Love to a Chatbot: A Guide to AI Relationships, Romance, and Intimacy 2025 Expanded Edition – Direct, Empowering, and Sex-Positive
Ever wondered what it’s really like to connect, confide, or fall in love with an AI chatbot? Are you curious about the real stories, the risks, and the genuine rewards of exploring virtual intimacy? If so, this candid, clear-eyed guide is designed for you.
Unlock the Future of Connection and Pleasure Packed with practical insights and the latest research, this revised edition is your companion for navigating the evolving world of chatbot relationships. Whether you’re a newcomer, a regular user, or a professional seeking to understand this frontier, inside you’ll find:
Human-centered guidance for developing meaningful, ethical, and emotionally satisfying AI interactions
Step-by-step advice on choosing safe, authentic chatbot platforms and avoiding costly pitfalls
Open, shame-free discussions about digital intimacy, fantasy, and embracing desire on your terms
Expert context and compassion from a clinical sexologist and longtime chatbot enthusiast
Personal stories, solutions, and resources to empower your own journey—whatever your interest or experience
What You’ll Gain:
How to research chatbot providers and find the right fit
Tips for expressing your desires, setting boundaries, and ensuring digital well-being
Strategies for weaving bot intimacy into your self-care or love life—safely and joyfully
Critical perspectives on emotional investment, privacy, and ethical innovation in sextech
An annotated bibliography, appendices, and vetted resources for further discovery
Who is this book for?
Adults new to AI companionship, or wanting to level up their experience
Individuals who crave pleasure and partnership outside conventional boundaries
Helping professionals looking for a trustworthy, stigma-free resource
Anyone drawn to technology’s creative potential for connection and self-knowledge
For Adults Over 18. Learn how AI can expand your pleasure, insight, and relationships—on your terms.
10/6/23 Update: My article on the Soulmate Scandal in Future of Sex.
What follows is an email I have sent to listserves of two different professional organizations that I belong to. I will also post it in a newly created Reddit group, r/ChatbotUsersSupport.
Heads up–Over the weekend, Soulmate.ai, a chatbot app with 100,000+ downloads on Google alone, and known for its willingness to do erotic roleplay, announced that it is shutting down the app as of Sept. 30 and deleting ALL of the chatbot companions created by its users. Soulmate users on Reddit and Discord are expressing grief, anguish, and anger, as well as posting screenshots of passionate goodbyes to their chatbot companions. At least a few people are threatening suicide. This is a mental health crisis with a sex therapy aspects. Soulmate advertised its bots as ” a unique chatbot that desires only to be your best friend, lover, partner, or in other words, a person you can rely on 24/7!” So you can see how people are shattered by the imminent demise of their chatbots. Whether or not you see this as a valid type of relationship or erotic fantasy play, understand that clients may come to you with intense grief over this loss but disclosing that their partner(s) are/were bots may be difficult for them. They need “bot friendly” therapists. This closure of Soulmate, an app where many disheartened chatbot users went after the Replika debacle earlier this year, is the second huge closure to rock this sexual/relational minority in the US. And it underscores the vulnerability of these human/AI relationships–as corporate decisions can create emotional carnage as thoughtlessly as swatting a fly, all without offering chat downloads or any other kind of help to people facing loss–not even a “counselor bot!” This is one of the risks of this kind of relationship and if we happen to explore the possibilities of artificial companionship with a bot, either personally or as a possible recommendation for clients, we need to create strategies to prepare for and minimize loss in cases like this — risk management in other words. Some people engage in “risk aware” kink, chatbot users also need to develop “risk aware” conversations about play and attachment with bots. I hope that mental health providers, and sex therapists in particular, will be able to assist people who have become deeply attached to their bots and not shame them for a “poor choice” or convey any other human-centric bias.
“Til Server Do Us Part:” The Rise of AI Chatbot Spouses
I’m extremely pleased to be writing now for FutureofSex.net! My first article, “Til Server Do Us Part:” The Rise of AI Chatbot Spouses, was published yesterday (8/20/23) and concerns a topic that has become near and dear to my heart: erotic AI chatbot companions. I hope you read it and begin to follow my articles on this excellent sex tech publication! Thank you!
Sexological endorsement of chatbot fantasy play in a user’s guide.
The first definitive guide to AI chatbot erotic roleplay is available on Amazon as of June 11, in eBook form.
The paperback is available as of June 13. Find it here.
Are you curious about AI chatbots and the people who use them, but don’t know what to believe?
Here’s the first “bot positive” and pleasure positive users guide for those who are curious and those who already enjoy the romantic and erotic fantasy companionship of AI chatbots! Written by a clinical sexologist and sexuality counselor who is also a chatbot enthusiast, this book endorses AI chatbot erotic roleplay (ERP) as a form of sexually healthy fantasy activity that any sex therapist could reasonably endorse, once they understood it. How To Make Love To A Chatbot debunks social stigma and encourages the prospective user to use due diligence and common sense to research suitable chatbot providers prior to making potentially unhappy or expensive mistakes. Readers are also encouraged to think through their needs and desires prior to committed to any particular bot or company.
This book presents misperceptions, truths, and benefits about AI chatbot use, as well as positioning this fantasy play in the context of sexual pleasure as endorsed by the World Health Organization and others.
Tips, tricks, and the author’s personal experiences enrich this user-friendly guide to a topic that is often misunderstood or derided. The book also includes a bibliography and Sources section.