Artificial Intelligence: Impact on Human Relationships and Society

Lord Magan of Castletown Excerpts

Friday 5th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

My Lords, I too pay tribute to the most reverend Primate for initiating this most timely and extremely relevant debate. It is hugely appropriate that the Church of England is taking the lead in addressing the fundamental issues of the impacts of artificial intelligence—AI—on human relations and society as a whole.

I declare my personal interests. I have been a member of the Church of England since the mewling and puking stage. Further, with homes in both England and Ireland, I have also been a lifelong member of the Church of Ireland. This is therefore a fitting moment to pay tribute to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames, whose 20 years as Primate of All Ireland was so remarkably outstanding. The people of all Ireland owe him a very great debt of gratitude.

AI remains an enigma for many. Even the most hardened and experienced members of the fourth estate still question whether AI is a boon, a bane or a bubble. We here should have no doubts; AI is a gigantic, inflated bubble. Sooner or later, it will burst, with momentous and even catastrophic consequences, but we have seen this all before: in the 19th century, with railways and electricity, and more recently, with the internet and the dotcom boom. Every transformative technology arrives surrounded by both utopian promises and existential fears. Many companies disappear and many valuations collapse, but the underlying infrastructure changes society forever. The question is not whether AI is a bubble, which it undoubtedly is; the question is, which parts are the bubble and which parts are the next internet?

Three key questions have to be addressed— first, the economic question. Everyone in this speculative frenzy is asking, “How do we monetise AI?”. A vast tsunami of money has been rolling over the global AI sector, and further huge funds flood in daily. Levels of valuation are now absolutely crazy and completely unsustainable. Yet, this huge speculative financial bubble will burst, and the wreckage will be enormous. History suggests that there will still be big winners, but the biggest may not be the companies building the technology; they may be the organisations that reinvent education, healthcare, commerce, and government and the culture around it. Just as the dotcom era created Amazon, Google and entirely new markets, AI will likely create industries that we cannot yet see. The economic and business question is important, but it is not the most important question.

The second key question is the human question. The question that interests me most is what happens to human relationships when intelligence becomes abundant? For centuries, access to knowledge was power. Today, knowledge is everywhere. Tomorrow, intelligence may be everywhere. If an AI can be your doctor, therapist, financial adviser, teacher and companion, what happens to trust, expertise and human connection? AI girlfriends are a hit already. This is not a joke. See a very recent article in Forbes magazine:

“Sociologist and MIT professor Sherry Turkle has described this phenomenon as artificial intimacy, where technology simulates empathy and attentiveness, creating the emotional experience of companionship without the complexity of another human being”—


which sounds interesting. We are not simply automating work; we are potentially automating aspects of human interaction itself. This is historically unprecedented.

The third key question is the societal question. The internet democratised information. AI is democratising intelligence, but democratisation does not automatically create equality. Access is not the same as opportunity. Algorithms still shape visibility, platforms still centralise power and bias still exists. The question for policymakers is not simply how we accelerate AI—

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)]

I would be grateful if the noble Lord could wind up. Thank you.

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

One second—I am sorry.

It is about how we ensure that participation, dignity and opportunity remain widely distributed, so I say yes to the most reverend Primate and her formidable phalanx of right reverend Prelates. Perhaps the deepest questions are not technological at all; they are philosophical. For the first time in history, humanity is interacting with something capable of simulating aspects of intelligence and creating at scale.