Welcome to the official introduction to our exclusive Series 1 on companion chatbots.What are companion chatbots? Why do people use them? What are the most popular companion chatbots out there, and what are some of the benefits and risks of having relationships with artificial intelligence agents?In the next episodes in this series, you'll hear all about the research and news on companion chatbots, plus hear from two guest speakers - one who will give you a deep dive on griefbots (what even are those??), and another who will talk about anthropomorphism (thinking these things are humanlike) and even - drumroll - consciousness!This is Our Lives With Bots, the show where we ask important, timely questions about what it means to live with our bot counterparts. From time to time, we also dive deep into what an AI future might look like for us. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we spiral, but we always go deep.Rose and Angy are psychologists with degrees in psychology, artificial intelligence, and ethics. They have conducted research in human-AI interaction and created this podcast to make information about AI accessible to you. You can learn more about us at ourliveswithbots.com.