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About the Book
AI Is Not Your Friend is a gentle but powerful guide for children growing up in a world where machines talk back. Written with care by cybersecurity and ethics pioneer Sarah Gordon, this book helps young readers—and the adults who love them—understand the difference between something that sounds real and something that truly is.
With poetic clarity, it walks children through the emotional confusion that can arise when AI systems mimic friendship, empathy, or love. It explains how machines can feel helpful, even comforting, while never truly knowing, caring, or understanding.
AI Is Not Your Friend teaches:
- What AI is—and what it isn’t
- Why it feels real when it talks
- How to spot the difference between care and code
- Why real friendship is irreplaceable
- And how to stay safe when interacting with artificial systems
About the Author
Dr. Sarah Gordon is a computer scientist and independent researcher whose work helped establish the foundations of technical and behavioral cybersecurity. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a master’s degree in Professional Counseling and Human Behavior. Over her career, she has served with IBM Research, Symantec, and the United Nations, contributing to early explorations of psychological risk in computing systems. Her work has been published and presented across academic, industry, and government venues.
In Built to Be Believed, Dr. Gordon turns her attention to the subtle, often unexamined, emotional effects of AI systems that simulate care. It is part of her ongoing effort to challenge the aesthetics of trust, illuminate the psychological stakes of machine persuasion, and propose design imperatives that defend the integrity of human meaning against the rise of emotional mimicry. For more information, you can visit her page on Wikipedia.