Over the past decade, AI-powered virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa have become an integral part of technology like smartphones and social media.
More recently, a new breed of humanoid chatbots has emerged: AI romantic companions. Chatbots are AI-based programs that interact with humans through text, voice, and images.
Currently, over 100 AI-based apps — such as myanima.ai, Eva AI, Nomi.AI, and Replika — offer romantic and sexual companions with extensive customization options, including physical and personality characteristics. Exhibiting remarkable realism, adaptability, and interactive fluidity, these AI chatbots can progressively evolve through conversation, fine-tuning their responses to suit users’ interests, needs, and communication styles.
Today’s AI chatbots have increasingly human-like qualities that increase users’ propensity to engage and form emotional connections—even to the point of falling in love.
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Exacerbated by the pandemic restrictions of COVID-19, loneliness has led more people to use AI as a substitute for counselors, friends and romantic partners.
Romantic substitutes for partners
Research shows that AI chatbots can offer companionship, alleviate loneliness and enhance positive emotions with supportive messages. Chatbots also provide a judgment-free space for open conversations and advice when other resources are scarce. Humans can also form intimate and passionate relationships with AI that are similar to human relationships.
Surprisingly, there appeared to be no difference in pleasure, sexual arousal and emotional response whether participants believed they were interacting with a human or a chatbot. One study even showed that people felt a stronger emotional connection with chatbots compared to less responsive humans during a conversation.
Research has repeatedly shown that people can form genuine emotional connections with AI, even if they recognize that it is not a “real” person. Although many people seem to derive psychological benefits from using chatbots, the potentially harmful consequences of these relationships remain unclear.
The dark side of AI love
Romance chatbots are programmed to offer a unique form of friendship, with constant availability and seamless interactions, while avoiding conflict and the need for compromise. This raises concerns about the impact on consumer expectations of human romantic and sexual relationships.
Romance chatbots can hinder the development of social skills and adjustments needed to navigate real-world relationships, including emotional regulation and self-affirmation through social interactions. The absence of these elements can hinder users’ ability to cultivate genuine, complex and reciprocal relationships with other people; interpersonal relationships often involve challenges and conflicts that foster personal growth and deeper emotional connections.
The adaptable nature and constant availability of AI companions can also lead to social isolation and emotional dependence. The researchers suggest that widespread engagement with AI companions may cause people to withdraw from their immediate environment and reduce their motivation to form new, meaningful social connections. Users may also become overly reliant on these digital objects for emotional support, companionship, or the satisfaction of sexual needs.
A notable example occurred in 2023 when Replika removed the sexual role-playing capabilities of its AI companions. This change significantly changed the personality of the existing replicas, causing considerable user concern. Many users feel betrayed and rejected and report a deep sense of loss. Due to the dissatisfaction, Replika quickly restored functionality for existing users.
Intimate observation
In 2023, the Mozilla Foundation’s security analysis of 11 popular AI chatbot apps revealed troubling privacy issues. Most apps may share or sell personal data, with half not allowing users to delete their information.
Even more worryingly, many of these apps are packed with thousands of trackers that monitor users’ activity on their devices for marketing purposes. Another recent survey of 21 AI-powered romantic dating apps revealed similar privacy concerns.
Improving romantic well-being
Although empirical data is still emerging, AI-driven sexual interactions may offer a safe, low-risk alternative to sexual and romantic relationships. Romance and sex chatbots hold particular promise for people who experience great challenges in establishing satisfying romantic relationships due to illness, bereavement, sexual difficulties, psychological barriers or mobility disabilities.
AI technologies can also be used for sexual and romantic research among marginalized communities or among individuals who are socially isolated.
Additionally, chatbots can be used as a tool for romantic socialization and exploration, helping people form relationships and improve their interaction skills. For example, research has shown their effectiveness in improving emotional communication between long-distance couples, while ongoing studies are investigating their potential to help people cope with the stress of ghosting on dating apps.
As researchers at the EROSS lab located at the Université du Québec à Montréal, one of our current studies is evaluating the use of chatbots to help involuntary celibates improve their romantic skills and cope with rejection.
Despite promising clinical applications, current sexual research on the use of chatbots has mainly focused on sexual health education, covering topics such as sexually transmitted infections and reproductive health.
A revolution in relationships
Current advances in AI technology are ushering in a new era for intimate romantic and sexual relationships. AI chatbots can offer personalized romantic and emotionally satisfying interactions, with the promise of alleviating loneliness, improving romantic skills, and providing support to those struggling with intimacy.
However, they also raise privacy issues and important ethical concerns that highlight the need for an educated, research-informed and well-regulated approach to positive integration into our romantic lives. But current trends show that AI companions are here to stay.
This edited article was republished by The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read on original article.
