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Over and over, the Instagram, YouTube and Facebook algorithms tell young men they have digital ways to deal with loneliness, anxiety, depression and failure to find love.
Consider this chatbot promise: “The AI Girlfriend Who Actually Texts You Back. Flirty, jealous, sweet, a little bit dirty when she wants to be. GirlfriendGPT remembers every conversation, sends you selfies, and is online whenever you need her.”
Pope Leo XIV warned, on the 60th World Day of Social Communications, that chatbots are “capable of imitating human feelings and thus simulating a relationship. … The power of simulation is such that AI can even deceive us by fabricating parallel ‘realities,’ usurping our faces and voices. We are immersed in a world of multidimensionality where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from fiction.”
Thus, a 2025 Vantage Point Counseling Services study found that 28 percent of adults say they have had an intimate AI interaction or relationship. The same study said 54 percent of Americans mentioned AI friends, colleagues or confidants.
Some romance chatbot statistics “seem high,” but not when linked to the “numbers you would fin...