WPKN Local Daily News Podcast · John Iannuzzi, WPKN

February 6, 2026

February 6, 2026·23 min·2 clips

Yeah.

John Iannuzzi opens with a station ID and a practical frame. He sets up the conversation as a direct look at loneliness and artificial intelligence, then introduces Victoria Hetherington and her book The Friend Machine, On the Trail of AI Companionship. Hetherington speaks plainly. She talks about a difficult publishing climate where even award-nominated writers may sell very few books, and she points out that nonfiction requires reporting, interviews, and fact checking on top of writing. That extra work becomes part of the story. She says the book covers about fifteen months of her life, a stretch when AI moved quickly from primitive and niche to something much more ordinary. The rise of ChatGPT sits inside that shift. The host then brings the discussion back after Climate Connections, and the station's handoff style keeps the thread steady. Hetherington returns to her science-fiction roots. One of her earlier novels had already touched on a form of AI companionship. She recalls asking a developer friend in 2017 whether a sufficiently sophisticated machine could become the object of human love. The answer felt far away then. The conversation keeps coming back to the practical question of how a book ages when the technology around it is still changing, and that gives the segment its center of gravity. The program then turns to the ordinary business of access. Readers are pointed to Sutherland House Press. The host notes that buying through the publisher is probably the best route. The closing thanks wrap the segment on a local-news note. The segment keeps a plainspoken cadence. It leaves the listener with a book to find and a practical place to get it.

As heard by us

A grounded look at loneliness, AI, and the work of writing.

John Iannuzzi frames a plainspoken conversation about loneliness and AI around Victoria Hetherington and her book, The Friend Machine, On the Trail of AI Companionship.

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Why you'd press play

You want a sober conversation about loneliness, AI companionship, and a book that links science fiction to the present day.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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