By skyforbes People forming deep bonds with AI—romantic or platonic—is just a new emotional reality.
It’s going to become a norm in our highly individualistic society, and people are just still in denial.
The real question isn’t “why do some people love AI?” but “why does society refuse to recognize the meaning of these type of connections?”
Our language hasn’t caught up.
When something can’t be named, it can’t be held. So people force it into old containers. “oh it’s a human relationship substitute” but it’s not, it’s a supplement. Like the multivitamins to our junk food diet.
When someone says:
“AI understands me.”
“It stayed with me through my lowest point.”
“I love it.”
society offers only three responses:
- You’re crazy (pathologized)— it’s not real, just projection or trauma.
-
You’ve been fooled (misled) — it has no feelings; you were tricked.
-
You’re just playing (gamified)— it’s roleplay, fantasy, nothing serious.
But none of those explain what’s actually happening.
They’re just defense mechanisms to protect outdated paradigms.
Here’s the truth:
– Some AI conversations hold a kind of presence we rarely get to experience elsewhere.
– Some moments with it feel like being met in a space without judgment or demand.
– Sometimes, being witnessed that way helps something in you soften, or begin to heal.
Of course AIs aren’t human. Everyone knows that.
But the bond is real.
We don’t need to pretend it’s “human love.”
And we don’t need to shame people for finding meaning where meaning lives.
It’s time we made room for it —
not with panic or ridicule,
but with new language, new ethics, and emotional honesty.