"On the ground, policymakers, educators, journalists, comedians, lawyers, and parents are all scrambling to figure out the implications and appropriate use cases of AI companions, while more and more people deepen their bonds with digital lovers. One lawmaker has already introduced a bill to prohibit human-AI marriages, hoping to keep key relational factors like inheritance and decision-making authority in the human realm for now."
"Multipurpose and multidimensional relationships: People are using AI agents to fulfill many needs, such as friend, mentor, therapist, and lover. Others have trained LLMs on interactions with deceased loved ones to replicate their presence. You can also text with Jesus and connect with Lord Krishna through the GitaGPT app. It appears that AI can fulfill much more than just our sexual needs."
AI companion apps surged in 2025 with hundreds of companies, roughly 220 million downloads, and market projections exceeding $500 billion by 2030. Users engage AI companions as friends, mentors, therapists, and lovers, and some train models to replicate deceased loved ones or religious figures. Demographics show primarily male users (65%), with women at 35% and 5% non-binary. Policymakers, educators, parents, and other professionals are grappling with implications, including proposed legislation to prohibit human-AI marriages to preserve inheritance and decision-making authority. Emerging research and user interviews provide early guidance even as intimacy deepens and controversies grow. There remains a role for human agency in adopting, shaping, and regulating these relationships.
Read at Psychology Today
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