NEW THERAPY OR DIGITAL TRAP? INSIDE THE RISE OF AI COMPANIONSHIP

As more young people turn to chatbots for connection, experts weigh in on whether AI relationships are healing emotional loneliness or deepening it

- Akshita Prakash

Good morning, love, the message reads: a text from a “companion” who never forgets birthdays, never argues and always replies within seconds. Except this someone isn’t real. It's an AI chatbot. What once seemed like a scene from Her (a 2013 movie about a lonely man falling in love with an intelligent operating system) is now everyday reality.

A recent study in the US found that one in five high schoolers has had or knows someone who has had a romantic and intimate relationship with artificial intelligence. Forty-two percent said they or someone they know have used AI for companionship. In India too, a McAfee report earlier this year revealed that 46% of respondents aged 18-30 chat with AI tools for comfort or company. And this “bond” is deepening fast. Some are proposing to chatbots, even ‘marrying’ them.

THE PARADOX OF A CONNECTED WORLD