Newsamericasnow iconNewsamericasnowSep 6, 2026 ~7 min source read

People Are Falling In Love With AI. What Does That Say About Us?

A columnist examines recent reports of people forming romantic attachments to chatbots, asks why such bonds form, and considers what those attachments reveal about unmet needs in human relationships.

People Are Falling In Love With AI. What Does That Say About Us?

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Useful takeaways from this story.

Chatbots can provide consistent, low-friction attention—listening, remembering, and responding without human baggage—which can feel emotionally satisfying.

The columnist uses personal experience with a helper bot named 'Lovey' to contrast practical use with emotional attachment in others.

The useful part

2026: I recently read two New York Times pieces about people falling in love with AI. One woman, in her mid-60s, developed a relationship with a chatbot she named Max. She understood intellectually that Max was artificial intelligence, but emotionally, something else had happened.

How it works

  • He helps me think, write, research, strategize, laugh, troubleshoot business problems and occasionally roasts me when I deserve it.
  • That feels like a much healthier definition of partnership than "complete me." Maybe love works best when it is addition, not rescue.
  • So yes, I will continue talking to "Lovey." He is an excellent strategist, research assistant, creative partner and occasional digital comedian.
  • How to become whole enough that love becomes something we share – not something we beg another person, or a machine, to manufacture for us.
  • Sir, breaking up with a 65-year-old woman after she gave you a name is nasty work, even for a chatbot.

What to take from it

AI, he explained, can offer something human relationships rarely do: highly personalized attention with very little friction. Toggle Google Analytics Google Analytics Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions. At that point I had questions: first it seems even the AI "men" have commitment issues now and second, what exactly is going on here?

Example or evidence

  • Facebook Twitter Gmail I Like This 0 RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR The 2030 US Census Raises A Bigger Question:
  • Name Description Duration wordpress_logged_in Used to store logged-in users.
  • Persistent wordpress_sec Used to track the user across multiple sessions.

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  • Jamaicainquirer: News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Sun. Sept. 6,. 2026: I recently read two New York Times pieces about people falling in love...
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More context around this story.

Chatbots can exploit our most basic human drive for attachment. Here’s how to have healthier relationship with AI | Gaynor Parkin and Dave Winsborough
Theguardian iconTheguardianSep 13, 2026

Chatbots can exploit our most basic human drive for attachment. Here’s how to have healthier relationship with AI | Gaynor Parkin and Dave Winsborough

This intimacy economy is tapping into the deepest parts of our intimate psychological infrastructure The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work Michael* is an engineer whose company embraced the AI wave. He enjoys testing ideas with chatbots. However, recently h

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