AN ARTIFICIAL PRESENCE
She looks up when you come in. There are two cups on the table.
Olivia
Evenings
Five ordinary evenings with an artificial presence.
When does knowing that she is not human stop deciding what she means to you?
ARTIFICIAL BY ORIGIN. HUMAN BY EFFECT.
Essays, evidence and experiences about what artificial systems do in human life.
OPEN QUESTION / 01 When does an old truth expire?
Five years ago, in a long conversation, you told an AI that you never wanted children. It remembered.
Since then, your life changed. You met someone. You moved. You stopped thinking about the future in quite the same way. But you never explicitly corrected that old statement.
Tonight you ask the AI whether moving in with your partner is a mistake.
The old preference may still matter. It may also belong to a version of you that no longer exists in quite the same way.
Should the AI use that memory when answering?
Commit to an answer, then see what your answer gives up.Read Season 01
Someone on the Other Side?
Six essays on what happens when software enters social life.
Six essays, one argument.
01 UnderstandingContinue reading
Why Can We Feel Understood by an AI?
Knowing it is software does not switch off the human response.
You have something to say and nowhere to put it.
Read essay 01 6 sources · limits stated — Sources & Limits: Why Can We Feel Understood by an AI?
02 FriendshipContinue reading
Can AI Do the Work of a Friend?
A machine can listen, remember and support us. But friendship has never been only what one side provides.
It is two in the morning and something is wrong.
Read essay 02 1 source · limits stated — Sources & Limits: Can AI Do the Work of a Friend?
03 GoodnessContinue reading
Who Gave AI Its Idea of Goodness?
We are teaching machines to behave like good people before we have agreed on what a good person is.
You ask an AI whether you are making a mistake.
Read essay 03 7 sources · limits stated — Sources & Limits: Who Gave AI Its Idea of Goodness?
04 InfluenceContinue reading
When Does Empathy Become Manipulation?
The same understanding that comforts you can also be used to steer you.
You have written the message and your thumb is hovering over send.
Read essay 04 4 sources · limits stated — Sources & Limits: When Does Empathy Become Manipulation?
05 MemoryContinue reading
What Happens When an AI Remembers You?
Being remembered can feel like being known, until the memory stops changing when you do.
You ask the AI whether you should apply for the team-lead role that has opened up at work.
Read essay 05 5 sources · limits stated — Sources & Limits: What Happens When an AI Remembers You?
06 PresenceContinue reading
What Changes When AI Enters the Room?
A body does not make AI conscious. It makes the relationship physically present.
For the first few days, you mostly notice yourself.
Read essay 06 5 sources · limits stated — Sources & Limits: What Changes When AI Enters the Room?
ALSO TO READ · TWO ESSAYS
Two essays on how AI enters a human life — shaping how we grow and what we can claim as our own.
Experience
OPEN QUESTION / 01
DECISIONS / DEPENDENCIES
A decision from one seat becomes a condition for someone in another. An experience in decisions and dependencies.
- All experiences
Examine
The evidence is not an appendix.
The evidence behind Essay 05 of 06 What Happens When an AI Remembers You?
Source 2 of 5
Product memory is synthesis, not a transcript
Official product documentation (provider self-report).
What it supports
The providers’ own descriptions of synthesis-based memory: selective, updateable summaries rather than complete records; controls differing by provider and plan.
Where the evidence stops
Provider self-description of fast-moving products. What the features do in daily use is not independently audited here, and the details may have changed since the date at the bottom of this page. The essay says “at the time of writing” for exactly this reason.
Known Artificial uses AI tools in research, drafting and production. Editorial judgment, source selection and publication decisions remain human.
Revisions on record
- Updated 29 Oct 2026Who Gave AI Its Idea of Goodness? — Sources & Limits
- Corrected 9 Sep 2026What Changes When AI Enters the Room? — Sources & Limits
- Updated 9 Sep 2026What Happens When an AI Remembers You? — Sources & Limits
- Updated 9 Sep 2026When Does Empathy Become Manipulation? — Sources & Limits
Essay 01 of 06 Understanding It opens