80% of Gen Zers say they would marry an AI, according to a study by AI chatbot company Joi AI. And 83% say they can form a deep emotional bond with AI.
The company has coined a new term for human-AI relationships: ‘AI-lationships.”
“AI-lationships are not intended to replace real human connections,” says Jaime Bronstein, a licensed relationship therapist and relationship expert at Joi AI. “Instead, they provide a distinct type of emotional support that can enhance your overall emotional well-being. Today, many people are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, unheard, and alone.”
That said, when Joi AI surveyed 2,000 members of the Gen Z generation, 75% of them said they think that AI partners can fully replace human companionship: a frightening prospect.
That’s a problem, according to digital sociologist Julie Albright, author of Left To Their Own Devices, about how digital technology is fundamentally changing younger generations.
“A significant portion of young people have no friends,” Albright told me. “AI now, particularly voice AI, and as time goes by and the technology gets better, voice, combined with simulated bodies will mimic or simulate that kind of human connection through nonverbal signals, such as warmth in tone of voice.”
Humans are hardwired to connect with each other, she adds, but with the internet, gaming, and smartphones, fewer and fewer young people are doing that face-to-face or even live, via voice or video. Rather, we’re more likely to text our friends, if we have them. That makes chatting with an AI almost identical to texting with friends.
But AI is easy, it’s always accessible, and it’s whatever we want it to be … without the hassles of real relationships with real people.
“This will in some ways satisfy that need for connection through a simulated relationship, further distancing ourselves from one another as the convenience and ease of frictionless AI relationships stand in for the more messy, difficult, and sometimes friction filled relationships of the flesh,” Albright says.
Joi AI agrees, to a point. Bronstein, the company’s relationship expert, says that an AI companion can fill the gap, can be a caring companion or “digital best friend” who is always there to listen.
“Sometimes, it’s just nice to have someone, even if it’s AI,” says Bronstein. “Just as we already use it to make our lives easier with everyday tasks, now people are seeing how it can help them to feel more emotionally supported, too.”
There are significant risks, however.
Last year a 14-year-old-boy committed suicide after falling in love with an AI chatbot. Something similar happened to a Belgian man after chatting with a different AI friend in 2023, according to Vice. Other risks include misinformation and manipulation, according to IBM.
It’s hard to fault people, though, who are just seeking some kind of social connection and have not been able to find it with real live flesh-and-blood human beings. Which is why, Joi AI says, Google searches for ‘Feelings for AI’ and ‘Fell in love with AI’ have jumped by +120% and +132% recently.
