# VICTORIA HETHERINGTON- "The Friend Machine."

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-he-s-just-podcasts-5993119/victoria-hetherington-the-friend-machine
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-he-s-just-podcasts-5993119/victoria-hetherington-the-friend-machine.md
Podcast: [The He's Just Podcasts](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-he-s-just-podcasts-5993119)
Published: 2026-03-07T15:27:22+00:00
Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/hesjustasw/2608514
Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/184424/2608514/hesjustasw/2026_03_07_15_27_15_af33d63e-14a5-4f3f-8869-b725b2a66b22.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-he-s-just-podcasts-5993119/episodes/victoria-hetherington-the-friend-machine
Duration seconds: 3352

## Resource

VICTORIA HETHERINGTON’s debut novel, Mooncalves , was shortlisted for the 2020 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Her second novel, Autonomy , looks at human agency in the age of technology. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Into the Mist , which explores an aviation tragedy. Victoria is also a screenwriter, instructor, and communications specialist, she has written for Yahoo! Finance and Hazlitt, she has served as a frequent panelist at universities and conferences, appeared on CBC, and performed on the main stage of NPR’s The Moth. Today on our show we discuss her new book “The Friend Machine: On The Trail To AI Companionship. This book offers a compassionate and intimate look at the lives of individuals from diverse backgrounds who have sought and found companionship in AI. The Friend Machine shows us that, as the lines between humans and machines continue to blur, the nature of our relationships will change in ways we’re only beginning to imagine.

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## Transcript

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