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7NEWS
31 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
JENI O'DOWD: AI boyfriends, OnlyFans and 1000 hookups a year — Welcome to the era of performative intimacy
Remember Bonnie Blue? The British sex worker who flew into Australia to 'party' with teenage boys at Schoolies until her visa was cancelled? Her latest stunt got cancelled as well, a planned 24-hour bondage 'petting zoo' inside a glass box in London. The public backlash got there first. And she's been booted off OnlyFans for good. So what's next for a woman who built a brand on provocation? Probably a livestream. Possibly a meltdown. Because this isn't about female empowerment, it's about escalation. Porn as performance. Intimacy as spectacle. And it's what happens when we replace love with clicks and intimacy with metrics. How far will people go for attention? Just ask Annie Knight, the Australian creator who recently claimed to have slept with 1000 men in a year. One of those stunts involved 583 men in a single day. She ended up in the hospital. But the headlines kept coming, which I guess was the goal. But we are not just selling sex. We're now selling simulated closeness. Emotional proximity for the price of a monthly app. And it doesn't stop with porn. Meet the AI boyfriend. He's good-looking. He stares lovingly into your phone. He tells you what you want to hear. 'You don't have to do this alone. I've got you.' He never fights. Never forgets. Never leaves. Replika, one of the most popular AI companion apps, had more than 30 million users worldwide by the end of 2024. Newer players like HeraHaven racked up over a million downloads within months, while Google searches for 'AI boyfriend' surged by 700 per cent in just a year. This isn't some fringe tech fad. According to a January 2025 industry forecast, the global AI companion market is expected to grow from $2.7 billion in 2024 to $24.5 billion by 2034, representing an annual growth rate of nearly 25 per cent. Apps like APOB AI, Talkie and Glimpse let women create the ultimate boyfriend fantasy — responsive, devoted and emotionally fluent. Millions of women are watching these videos, replying 'I love you,' and posting fake holiday snaps with partners who don't exist. TikTok's #aiboyfriend tag now has nearly 90,000 posts, with many featuring 'soft boyfriend' role plays that garner millions of views. Because the boyfriend might be fake, but the dopamine hit is real. The Australian Psychological Society warns about the illusions of intimacy. 'We're just too complex,' says APS president Sara Quinn, in an interview with ABC News. 'It requires the ability for complex contextual judgements that AI at this stage just isn't equipped to handle.' Dr Raffaele Ciriello, a University of Sydney researcher studying AI-human interaction, flags a darker side. 'They have all the incentives to get users hooked and dependent… (but) they fail to be conscious, empathic or actually caring,' he told ABC Science earlier this month. American sociologist Sherry Turkle, in her book Alone Together, refers to it as 'artificial intimacy,' the illusion of companionship without the discomfort of genuine connection. 'We are lonely but fearful of intimacy. Digital connections and the sociable robot offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship,' she says. Even journaling has gone synthetic. AI apps like Woebot and Mindsera encourage users to 'open up' to bots who reply with empathy-laced, algorithmic therapy. It's sold as self-care. But it's just more outsourcing. In 2025, 63 per cent of Australian men under the age of 30 are single, and nearly half of the women in the same age group are too. Choosing to be single isn't the problem. Life can be powerful and joyful when it's on your terms. The issue is what we're replacing a real connection with. Who needs an awkward first date or to meet your friends at a bar in the middle of winter when your couch is warm and you can easily access your AI companion? People are creating partners who never say no. They are watching OnlyFans creators who pretend to love them and talking to AI therapists who never roll their eyes. If we continue like this, we'll lose the ability to handle anything substantial. Anything that requires effort or pushes back.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Never to be silenced again: Sarah Cook comes out about her abuse in new book
IN her deeply personal book, survivor Sarah Cook talks first about the the Victorian era adage of "children ought to be seen, and not heard". It was that concept of how children should behave, and what their place in society was, which cast the first shadow, Ms Cook says in the preface to her book, Harvesting Silence. Ms Cook is in Newcastle tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) to launch her book, which is dedicated to the family of Andrew Nash. Mr Nash took his own life as a young teenager in 1974 after being abused by a Marist brother in Hamilton. She hopes particularly that the women, some of whom to this day remain silent about the abuse they have suffered, are listening and that they might be emboldened to speak up. Ms Cook said she was punished for speaking up to the nuns who then worked at Loreto Kirribilli, a private Catholic girls' school on Sydney's Lower North Shore. "I was taken into a room with one of the nuns and questioned about this brother, and I told the truth, and she didn't seem to believe me," Ms Cook said. "And then it was just never discussed ever again." For the next three-and-a-half years, she was treated like a deviant, Ms Cook said. "They were cruel, and they picked on me, and I was always in trouble until they eventually expelled me." It was 40 years later that Ms Cook spoke for the first time about her experiences at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, announced in 2014. Her case was later investigated by police, and there is now a warrant out for the arrest of the Marist brother allegedly responsible for her abuse as a child between the ages of 8 and 11. She has also received a written and verbal apology from the Marist brothers, as well as a payout. They tried to silence her again at that point, the now 61-year-old says. "I was not to disclose any information about my legal case and the amount that I received," she said. This time around, rather than staying quiet, she finished writing and has now published her book, which she hopes will inspire other women to break the cycle of shame attached to maintaining silence. "Those who have been wronged deserve justice," the book's preface says. "The historical failings of institutions that were meant to protect children-and the present-day practices of the Australian legal system-are laid bare in this book to raise awareness for generations to come." The book launch is being hosted by the Clergy Abused Network at the Soul Hub from 3.30pm. IN her deeply personal book, survivor Sarah Cook talks first about the the Victorian era adage of "children ought to be seen, and not heard". It was that concept of how children should behave, and what their place in society was, which cast the first shadow, Ms Cook says in the preface to her book, Harvesting Silence. Ms Cook is in Newcastle tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) to launch her book, which is dedicated to the family of Andrew Nash. Mr Nash took his own life as a young teenager in 1974 after being abused by a Marist brother in Hamilton. She hopes particularly that the women, some of whom to this day remain silent about the abuse they have suffered, are listening and that they might be emboldened to speak up. Ms Cook said she was punished for speaking up to the nuns who then worked at Loreto Kirribilli, a private Catholic girls' school on Sydney's Lower North Shore. "I was taken into a room with one of the nuns and questioned about this brother, and I told the truth, and she didn't seem to believe me," Ms Cook said. "And then it was just never discussed ever again." For the next three-and-a-half years, she was treated like a deviant, Ms Cook said. "They were cruel, and they picked on me, and I was always in trouble until they eventually expelled me." It was 40 years later that Ms Cook spoke for the first time about her experiences at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, announced in 2014. Her case was later investigated by police, and there is now a warrant out for the arrest of the Marist brother allegedly responsible for her abuse as a child between the ages of 8 and 11. She has also received a written and verbal apology from the Marist brothers, as well as a payout. They tried to silence her again at that point, the now 61-year-old says. "I was not to disclose any information about my legal case and the amount that I received," she said. This time around, rather than staying quiet, she finished writing and has now published her book, which she hopes will inspire other women to break the cycle of shame attached to maintaining silence. "Those who have been wronged deserve justice," the book's preface says. "The historical failings of institutions that were meant to protect children-and the present-day practices of the Australian legal system-are laid bare in this book to raise awareness for generations to come." The book launch is being hosted by the Clergy Abused Network at the Soul Hub from 3.30pm. IN her deeply personal book, survivor Sarah Cook talks first about the the Victorian era adage of "children ought to be seen, and not heard". It was that concept of how children should behave, and what their place in society was, which cast the first shadow, Ms Cook says in the preface to her book, Harvesting Silence. Ms Cook is in Newcastle tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) to launch her book, which is dedicated to the family of Andrew Nash. Mr Nash took his own life as a young teenager in 1974 after being abused by a Marist brother in Hamilton. She hopes particularly that the women, some of whom to this day remain silent about the abuse they have suffered, are listening and that they might be emboldened to speak up. Ms Cook said she was punished for speaking up to the nuns who then worked at Loreto Kirribilli, a private Catholic girls' school on Sydney's Lower North Shore. "I was taken into a room with one of the nuns and questioned about this brother, and I told the truth, and she didn't seem to believe me," Ms Cook said. "And then it was just never discussed ever again." For the next three-and-a-half years, she was treated like a deviant, Ms Cook said. "They were cruel, and they picked on me, and I was always in trouble until they eventually expelled me." It was 40 years later that Ms Cook spoke for the first time about her experiences at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, announced in 2014. Her case was later investigated by police, and there is now a warrant out for the arrest of the Marist brother allegedly responsible for her abuse as a child between the ages of 8 and 11. She has also received a written and verbal apology from the Marist brothers, as well as a payout. They tried to silence her again at that point, the now 61-year-old says. "I was not to disclose any information about my legal case and the amount that I received," she said. This time around, rather than staying quiet, she finished writing and has now published her book, which she hopes will inspire other women to break the cycle of shame attached to maintaining silence. "Those who have been wronged deserve justice," the book's preface says. "The historical failings of institutions that were meant to protect children-and the present-day practices of the Australian legal system-are laid bare in this book to raise awareness for generations to come." The book launch is being hosted by the Clergy Abused Network at the Soul Hub from 3.30pm. IN her deeply personal book, survivor Sarah Cook talks first about the the Victorian era adage of "children ought to be seen, and not heard". It was that concept of how children should behave, and what their place in society was, which cast the first shadow, Ms Cook says in the preface to her book, Harvesting Silence. Ms Cook is in Newcastle tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) to launch her book, which is dedicated to the family of Andrew Nash. Mr Nash took his own life as a young teenager in 1974 after being abused by a Marist brother in Hamilton. She hopes particularly that the women, some of whom to this day remain silent about the abuse they have suffered, are listening and that they might be emboldened to speak up. Ms Cook said she was punished for speaking up to the nuns who then worked at Loreto Kirribilli, a private Catholic girls' school on Sydney's Lower North Shore. "I was taken into a room with one of the nuns and questioned about this brother, and I told the truth, and she didn't seem to believe me," Ms Cook said. "And then it was just never discussed ever again." For the next three-and-a-half years, she was treated like a deviant, Ms Cook said. "They were cruel, and they picked on me, and I was always in trouble until they eventually expelled me." It was 40 years later that Ms Cook spoke for the first time about her experiences at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, announced in 2014. Her case was later investigated by police, and there is now a warrant out for the arrest of the Marist brother allegedly responsible for her abuse as a child between the ages of 8 and 11. She has also received a written and verbal apology from the Marist brothers, as well as a payout. They tried to silence her again at that point, the now 61-year-old says. "I was not to disclose any information about my legal case and the amount that I received," she said. This time around, rather than staying quiet, she finished writing and has now published her book, which she hopes will inspire other women to break the cycle of shame attached to maintaining silence. "Those who have been wronged deserve justice," the book's preface says. "The historical failings of institutions that were meant to protect children-and the present-day practices of the Australian legal system-are laid bare in this book to raise awareness for generations to come." The book launch is being hosted by the Clergy Abused Network at the Soul Hub from 3.30pm.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Give the Hottest 100 to Kyle and Jackie O': Ben Lee's radical plan to save Triple J and Aussie music
Ben Lee is no stranger to the transformative power of Triple J's Hottest 100, having twice finished in the top two of the annual countdown. First, in 1998, his track Cigarettes Will Kill You came second to The Offspring's Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), while Catch My Disease finished behind Bernard Fanning's Wish You Well in the 2005 poll. But on the eve of Triple J's voting deadline for the Hottest 100 of Australian songs, with audiences encouraged to vote for their favourite ever homegrown tracks, the musician believes the public broadcaster could be doing more to support local talent. Posting to Instagram earlier this week, Lee outlined his vision for a new and improved Hottest 100. 'I reckon the Hottest 100 every year should only be eligible to vote for Australian songs,' Lee said. 'There's enough platforms around the world for international music.' Lee's idea comes after last year's Hottest 100, won by American artist Chappell Roan with Good Luck, Babe. The 2024 poll is the third-lowest-ever showing for local talent, behind the first two in 1993 and 1994 (and equal to 1996). 'It's easy to get complacent and be like, 'Triple J does so much more for Australian music than other commercial stations.' And that's true, but it shouldn't really be judged by the same standards as a commercial enterprise,' Lee said. 'It's like going, 'Medicare does so much for Australian healthcare.' Well, yeah, that's the point.'
