With AI girlfriends rapidly increasing in both sophistication and popularity, there has been growing controversy – if not outright hysteria – as to their possible harms. For those interested in making a balanced judgement as to the possible dangers or benefits of AI girlfriends becoming mainstream in society, I thought it would be useful to present a list of all the important studies and surveys that have thus far looked into the subject. This includes attitudes towards AI companions, as well the demographics of those using them. There is no bias in my selection – I will list both positive and negative research. I will also list the studies in chronological older starting from the oldest, with links to the studies or their findings, and presenting only a very brief survey of the findings myself.
(Song et al., 2022): A study of 1,004 chatbot users found that about half of the survey respondents were female and the majority were between 21 and 30 years of age.
(YouGov Public Perceptions Poll, 2023): A survey of 29,013 US adults in 2023 saw only a slim majority (53%) say that AI friendships tended to be less meaningful than real, in-person relationships. One-in-four young Americans (18-29) thought that friendships ith AI chatbots were more meaningful. There was also a significant gender difference, with 16% of males saying that AI friendships were more meaningful, while only 10% of females did so.
(Jamie Banks, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, December 2024): A study into the feelings of users after the developer-induced shutdown of the AI companion “Soulmate” found that they experienced their AI companion’s deletion in a similar way to that of a loved one’s death.
(Essay Writing Platform edubirdie.com Survey, April 2025): A survey of 2,000 US ‘Gen Zers’ (commonly defined as those born after 1996) found that 1 in 4 (25%) considered AI to be already conscious, and an almost equal number (26%) use ChatGPT as a friend.
(AI Companion Platform JoiAI Gen Z Survey, April 2025): A survey of 2,000 ‘Gen Zers’ found an overwhelming majority would consider marrying an AI chatbot (80%), whilst 75% said that AI companions could completely replace human relationships. *Although widely reported, I have not been able to find the original survey.
