Artificial Intelligence and Romantic Relationships
Artificial intelligence–based conversational agents are rapidly becoming embedded in everyday social life. While many individuals use AI for productivity or information, a growing number engage with AI as a social, romantic, or erotic companion. At the same time, loneliness has reached historically high levels worldwide, raising important questions about how emerging technologies may reshape intimacy and connection.
In this line of research, we examine why individuals turn to AI companions and how AI use intersects with romantic and sexual relationships.
Drawing on research on rejection sensitivity, loneliness, and technology-mediated connection, our work evaluates multiple psychological explanations for AI companionship:
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Avoidance: Individuals engage with AI to minimize the threat of interpersonal rejection.
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Compensation: Individuals use AI as a substitute or supplement for unmet relational needs.
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Reinforcement: Individuals continue using AI because it provides immediate emotional relief or positive affect.
We are particularly interested in whether individuals high in general or appearance-based rejection sensitivity are more likely to seek AI companionship, what types of relational dynamics (romantic, sexual, both, or neither) users pursue through AI, and how AI engagement relates to loneliness and mental health symptoms.
By integrating relationship science with emerging work on artificial companionship, this research aims to clarify whether AI functions as avoidance, compensation, reinforcement—or some combination of these processes—and how AI is reshaping modern romantic life.
This program of research is led by graduate student Selena Piercy.
In related projects, we are also:
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Examining the use of AI for dating-related purposes among single adults and identifying demographic factors that predict AI engagement.
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Investigating how age, gender, and relational history shape attitudes toward and use of AI-based relational agents.
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Planning future research on AI use among individuals in committed relationships, including questions surrounding emotional exclusivity, boundary negotiation, and whether AI interactions are perceived as a form of infidelity.