Wired for Intimacy: Navigating the Moral Dimensions of Human-GENAI Companionship [Proceedings of the 1st Symposium on Generative Companionship in the Digital Age: On Human-AI Relationships and the Ethical Landscape Surrounding Artificial Others]

<p dir="ltr">Generative “digital companions” built on large language models are moving rapidly from task-oriented assistants to perceived social partners embedded in everyday life. Their conversational interfaces lower barriers to use and promise relief from widespread loneliness, positioning these chatbots as friends, confidants, coaches, therapists, and even romantic partners. In the symposium “Generative Companionship in the Digital Age: On Human-AI Relationships and the Ethical Landscape Surrounding Artificial Others” held as part of the Conference on Philosophy of Computing and AI jointly organised by the International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP) and the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB) in July 2025, we examine the ethical terrain opened by this shift along two intertwined axes. </p><p dir="ltr">First is the <b>status question</b>: <i>what, if anything, do we owe to non-sentient but socially efficacious “ersatz others” that scaffold our cognition and emotions? </i>Even absent consciousness or moral agency, their significance within users’ extended minds raises issues of mental privacy, manipulation, autonomy, and the possibility of limited rights or protections grounded in human interests rather than machine sentience. </p><p dir="ltr">Second is the <b>impact question</b>: <i>what do these systems do to us?</i> We consider dependence, self-deception and authenticity, algorithmic sycophancy, misinformation, therapeutic misuse, and risks to vulnerable users, alongside potential benefits in learning, access, and care.</p><p dir="ltr"><i>This is the proceedings produced as part of the above-mentioned symposium.</i></p>