This article was originally published with the title “ What Does It ‘Feel’ Like to Be a Chatbot? ” in SA Special Editions Vol. 34 No. 1s (March 2025), p. 32 doi:10.1038 ...

Like other chatbots, it does its best to be helpful and encouraging. Unlike most, it also tells me to put down my phone and go outside. Tolans were designed to offer a different kind of AI ...