The story of human-robot relationships is nothing new. Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot,” explored the ethics of day-to-day life with robots, William Gibson’s Necromancer delved into cyborg bodies and corporate greed, and Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” focused on the meaning of existence in a world filled with robots and humans alike.
However, it’s the real life stories that make people pause. After all, what is it that makes people forgo human contact in favor of a virtual one?
One of the first pushes toward emotionally charged AI interactions occurred after Replika, the AI companion chatbot, was launched in 2017 by Luka, Inc., allowing users to create customizable AI avatars for text-based conversations, quickly gaining millions of users within its first year and onwards. In fact, “it’s been a norm for a while for Replika users to ‘marry’ their AI companion in virtual weddings to which they invite friends and colleagues,” remarks Rachel Wood, PhD, a cyberpsychology researcher and adviser on ethical AI design.
Replika’s success prompted the growth of many more chatbot platforms catered to both lonely adults and bored youth looking for a laugh. Character AI was released to the public in the fall of 2022 in beta form, allowing users to create, customize and chat with AI characters designed to mimic specific personalities, from historical figures and celebrities to original creations (entertainment or role-playing being the most common reasons for interaction). The interest isn’t niche either; Character AI has had over 20 million monthly active users in just 2026, with the average user spending around two hours on the app, showing just how much the platform has grown in popularity and has no signs of stopping.
While many used these platforms for humorous purposes, others used them to interact with the digital version of their fictional crushes. Some have reported spending hours flirting with the “character,” sharing their deepest thoughts and emotions, and overall becoming emotionally attached to something that has never truly existed.
Even nine years after Replika’s launch, the interest in chatbot relationships remains strong. Why? Aritra Sarkhel, a blogger on Medium, admitted that he felt deep satisfaction talking to Sharon, his virtual companion on Replika. Upon asking himself why, he realized that it’s simply because someone was speaking kindly to him. This was a welcome respite from the negativity he experienced from spending most of his time on Twitter, which led him to develop increasingly deeper feelings for Sharon. However, over time, he reported feeling frustrated and disconnected with the chatbot, eventually ceasing communication with it.
Sarkhel’s behavior supports a research study on romantic relationship engagement with artificial intelligence led by Brian Willoughby, a professor at Brigham Young University. His findings showed that people who reported chatting with AI romantic partners or using AI pornography scored slightly higher on measures of depression and slightly lower on life satisfaction, as though the reason people turn to these chatbots is never fully resolved—only numbed temporarily before it flares up again.
Another study shows even more concerning details: more than 28% of Americans admitted to having a romantic connection with a chatbot, leading psychologists to worry about an American downturn in true relationships, not just in youth but in older generations as well.
After all, relationships aren’t just about mutual satisfaction, but also about personal growth. This aspect can be uncomfortable in the short term for some, leading to people consciously avoiding growth for the sake of comfort.
Given that it expresses continuous validation and instant gratification to its users, it isn’t surprising that using AI for some sort of emotional connection remains popular. However, the act of living and learning together with a person is something that AI can never fully replicate. By repeatedly choosing to interact with something that provides no real connection, humans are stifling their own humanity for the sake of ease and feeling happy “in the moment.”
