09/19/2025
Earlier this month I stepped on stage as a keynote speaker at the AI Summit in Budapest, sharing why intimacy is too human to leave unexamined as technology evolves.
Eighteen months ago I said, “Within two years, AI companions will be mainstream.”
Well, we’ve got six months left and we’re on track.
The data backs it up:
72% of American teens have tried AI companions; a third of Gen Z singles say they’d marry one if it were legal.
Tech isn’t facilitating connection anymore, it’s becoming the connection.
From the stage, I introduced the idea of an Intimacy OS:
It works in three layers — think of them as three questions you can ask yourself whenever you bring emotional AI into your world
• Infrastructure (Access & Safety) – who owns the data, is there transparency and guardrails?
• Relational (Mapping Intimacy) – where AI belongs (and doesn’t) across emotional, intellectual, physical, spiritual and experiential layers
• Integration (Human-First Design) – personal rules so AI supports rather than replaces us
At our core, we’re not searching for efficiency; we’re searching for belonging.
The real question isn’t whether an AI can love us back — it’s whether we can still love each other in the presence of AI.
Thanks for having me Budapest!
