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Abstract
With loneliness on the rise, especially in a post-COVID era, humans are increasingly turning to artificial beings, either in the form of AI chatbots or robots, for companionship and intimacy, both emotional and physical. This thesis explores this burgeoning trend and analyzes these relationships within the framework for Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacrum and hyperreality, studying what happens when the lines begin to blur between the real and the artificial. Focusing on three posthumanist science fiction novels—Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke, and Annie Bot by Sierra Greer—alongside scholars like Donna J. Haraway, N. Katherine Hayles, and Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, this thesis investigates themes of personhood, agency, love, and what it means to be human in a posthumanist world.