Inside the Complicated Rise of AI Divorces

More and more young people are turning to bots to handle their separations-but at what risks?

- By ANNABEL IWEGBUE

Divorce is no walk in the park at any age. But when you confront one before your frontal lobe is fully developed, a legal split demands an extra amount of mental fortitude and self-reliance. Ask Britta, a 28-year-old art director who separated from her husband of two and a half years when she was 24. “Getting married young, you’re very aware that people expect you to fail,” she says. “Once you realize divorce is at your door, it’s tough, feeling like you’re fulfilling that failure.” What made the experience a little less daunting for her: artificial intelligence.

“I used Divorce.com to get the initial documents started and ChatGPT to help draft one of the final papers,” Britta explains. “I was able to handle the process on my own without having to invest thousands in legal representation. No lawyers, just online resources and assistance from our county clerk’s office.”

Britta’s AI-reliant approach to divorce isn’t rare—it’s a rising trend among Gen Z divorcées. (Gen Z tends to marry later than previous generations, giving it a relatively low divorce rate. Still, there are around 27 divorces per every 1,000 people in Gen Z, according to Divorce.com data, equating to more than 1 million current young divorcées and counting.)