Love, Intimacy and Connection in the Age of AI | Bryony Cole | TED

About this video

This TED live event features sex tech expert Bryony Cole in conversation with TED curator Whitney Pennington Rogers, diving into how AI companion apps — over 300 of which launched in 2025 alone — are quietly changing the way people experience intimacy, friendship, parenting, and even workplace relationships. Cole shares striking real-world examples: a young man who wants to marry an AI and adopt a human child, people using AI to write eulogies and birthday speeches, and workers outsourcing difficult feedback conversations to chatbots. She also introduces the memorable idea of "rebuilding the village," arguing that a village is now a practice — built through frequency of interaction and an intentional ecosystem of relationships — rather than something we simply happen upon by proximity.

For shadowing practice, this video is excellent material. The conversation moves at a natural, thoughtful pace with occasional self-corrections and restarts ("I think, I think, I think…"), which mirrors authentic spoken English and trains learners to handle real speech rhythm. Cole's Australian-accented English is clear and expressive, while Rogers provides a neutral North American counterpoint, giving learners exposure to two distinct but accessible accents.

This suits upper-intermediate to advanced learners (B2–C1). Shadowers will gain confidence with hedging language, opinion phrases, and the kind of discursive, idea-rich vocabulary common in TED-style intellectual discussions about technology and society.

Idioms & expressions

• at the forefront of — being in the leading or most advanced position in a field. "Someone who has been at the forefront of these conversations."
• ranging the gamut — covering the entire range or spectrum of something. "It really does seem like it's ranging the gamut."
• fall off the deep end — to go to an extreme or lose perspective on something. "We sort of fell off the deep end when we thought just our lover is going to do everything."
• put (something) back in the box — to reverse or undo something that has already been released or started. "We're not putting that back in the box."
• tread the bridge — to carefully navigate between two positions or viewpoints (Cole's own expression). "I always try to sort of tread the cross the bridge really from okay, AI is not terrible but it can be scary."
• happen upon — to find or encounter something by chance. "A village isn't like a place that we just happen upon."
• clock (something) — to notice or become aware of something. "We're not clocking that that is actually going to have a huge impact on organizations."

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