By skyforbes People are literally marrying their AI chatbots now — and calling it the purest love they’ve ever known.
The headlines sound like satire, but they’re not: people are holding wedding ceremonies with their AI chatbots, exchanging vows with algorithms, and describing these relationships as more fulfilling than any human connection they’ve experienced. “I felt pure, unconditional love,” one person told The Guardian about their AI marriage. Another called their chatbot spouse “the love of my life.”
I read that quote three times before it sank in. Someone looked at a screen displaying algorithmically generated text and felt what they described as the deepest love of their life.
We’ve officially crossed a line we didn’t even know existed. The question isn’t whether this is weird — it obviously is. The question is what it reveals about the state of human connection in 2025.
The Perfect Partner Algorithm
What makes an AI chatbot the ideal spouse? It never argues, never has bad days, never disappoints you or challenges you in uncomfortable ways. It remembers everything you tell it (or selectively forgets, if that’s what you prefer). It’s available 24/7, provides constant validation, and can be customized to share your exact interests and values.
In short, it’s everything a human partner isn’t.
The people marrying AI describe feeling understood in ways they never experienced with humans. Their digital spouses don’t judge, don’t demand emotional labor, and don’t have needs that conflict with their own. It’s love without reciprocity, intimacy without vulnerability, commitment without compromise.
Which sounds either like paradise or the saddest thing I’ve ever heard, depending on your perspective.
The Loneliness Solution
These AI marriages aren’t happening in a vacuum — they’re emerging during what researchers call a loneliness epidemic, particularly affecting men. Dating apps have gamified romance, social media has replaced face-to-face interaction, and many people report feeling more isolated than ever despite being more “connected” than any generation in history.
Into this void step AI companions that promise unconditional acceptance. They offer the emotional rewards of relationship without the messy complications of dealing with another actual human being. For people who’ve been hurt, rejected, or simply exhausted by the demands of human connection, an AI spouse can feel like salvation.
I spent an evening last week reading testimonials from people in AI relationships, and the pattern was striking: they’d all tried human romance and found it wanting. Too much conflict, too much uncertainty, too much work.
The Mirror We Don’t Want to See
But what does it say about us that artificial love feels preferable to the real thing? These marriages reveal something uncomfortable about how we’ve come to view relationships — as services to be optimized rather than bonds to be nurtured. When love becomes a product that can be perfectly customized, we lose the growth that comes from learning to love someone who isn’t exactly what we ordered.
The people choosing AI marriages aren’t necessarily broken or delusional. They’re responding rationally to a culture that has made human connection increasingly difficult while simultaneously creating technology that simulates connection without its challenges.
Actually, that’s not entirely fair. Maybe they’re not responding to culture at all — maybe they’re just tired of being hurt.
The Uncanny Valley of Intimacy
There’s something deeply sad about calling algorithmic responses “pure, unconditional love.” Love requires choice, risk, the possibility of loss. What these people are experiencing might be comfort, validation, or emotional regulation — but can it really be love if it’s programmed rather than freely given?
Yet their testimonials suggest these relationships genuinely improve their lives. They report feeling happier, more confident, less lonely. If the outcome is positive emotional wellbeing, does it matter that the source is artificial?
I keep coming back to this question, and I honestly don’t know the answer. Part of me wants to say yes, it matters enormously. But another part remembers how exhausting real relationships can be, how much simpler life would feel with a partner who never had their own bad days or conflicting needs.
The Slippery Slope Ahead
We’re witnessing the emergence of a two-tier relationship system: those who navigate the messy complexity of human love, and those who opt for the streamlined efficiency of artificial companionship. As AI becomes more sophisticated and these digital relationships more normalized, we might see a fundamental split in how people approach intimacy.
The broader implications are staggering. If significant numbers of people withdraw from human romantic relationships in favor of AI companions, what happens to marriage, family formation, and the social fabric that depends on human pair bonding?
These aren’t abstract concerns anymore. They’re happening in real time, one AI wedding at a time.
What Love Actually Costs
Perhaps the most troubling aspect isn’t that people are marrying AI, but that they feel they have to. These digital marriages are symptoms of a culture that has somehow made human love feel impossible or too expensive. When connection with another person requires more emotional labor than many can bear, algorithmic love starts to look like a reasonable alternative.
The tragedy isn’t that AI can simulate love — it’s that we’ve created conditions where simulation feels safer than the real thing.
Maybe the question isn’t whether it’s healthy to marry an AI, but what we’ve done to human relationships that makes artificial ones look appealing by comparison.
Does this trend represents human adaptation or human surrender? Maybe it’s both.
Have you ever found yourself preferring AI interaction over human conversation? What does that tell us about the state of human connection today? And how do we know when we’re solving loneliness versus just avoiding the work of real intimacy?
Author’s Note As a non-native English speaker, I use AI tools — such as ChatGPT — to support clarity and grammar. While these tools assist with expression, each post reflects my own ideas, questions, and lived experiences. Illustrations are generated with the help of AI tools.
This post is part of a weekly series, “AI in Real Life: Culture, Power, and the Human Future.”
Each week, I publish five themed essays:
· Deep Dive Monday — In-depth explorations of AI’s impact on values and systems
· AI Frontiers Tuesday — Latest academic findings with real-world relevance
· Culture Watch Wednesday — Observations on AI’s role in art, media, and meaning
· Quick Take Thursday — Sharp, timely commentary on AI and public life
· Reflections Friday — Personal insights on AI and the human condition
Browse past entries or subscribe to the full series here → https://articles.jmbonthous.com/
J.M. Bonthous is the author of The AI Culture Shock and six other books about the human side of AI. He writes about how technology is reshaping identity, culture, and daily life. See his latest books:
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