Illustration of a young woman holding a smartphone, with her face split in half — one side smiling and bathed in warm red light with floating heart icons, the other side cracked, pale, and sad, shown in cold blue tones with digital glitches and binary code in the background. The text overlay reads: “Is This End of Real Dating? Millions Are in Love With AI!”

New Study Finds Romantic AI Chatbots Lead To Poorer Mental Health

One in four young adults is now having regular conversations with AI romantic partners, spending an average of 50 minutes per week chatting with artificial companions. This is happening right now, according to a new research lead by Brian Willoughby, a professor at Brigham Young University. The team surveyed nearly 3,000 American adults about their use of romantic AI technologies. The results show that 19% of all adults have interacted with AI chatbots designed as romantic partners, while 13% actively seek out AI-generated social media accounts featuring idealized virtual people. Also, people in committed relationships are actually more likely to use romantic AI than single people, challenging assumptions about loneliness […]