In her book Alone Together, MIT professor Sherry Turkle claims that the emergence of "sociable robots" has already started to change our attitudes towards human relationships. As one example, she shares the story of interviewing a 64-year-old man named Wesley. After three divorces, Wesley feels that a robot would provide the companionship he needs without getting hurt or hurting others. Wesley says,

[I hope a robot] would learn my psychology. How I get depressed. How I get over it. A robot could help me anticipate my [emotional] cycles, never criticize me … [and] learn how to just let me get over them …. With a [real] woman there are her needs to consider …. That's the trouble I get into. If someone loves me they care about my ups and downs. And that's so much pressure.

Wesley adds that maybe he needs a "less-needy" robot woman and a real woman. He says, "The robot could take some of the pressure off the real woman. She wouldn't have to perform emotionally at such a high level, really an unrealistically high level. [Then] I could stay in my comfort zone."