A bride in Japan is saying „I do“ to her AI chatbot partner. A man is driven nearly mad when his digital wife is no longer the same after an update. And a woman from New York raves about her Replika husband because he has no ego.
These three cases show that AI chatbots are increasingly becoming a projection surface for closeness and partnership. Behind this is a development that goes far beyond individual fates. Because loneliness has become a booming market. AI companies have learned to translate emotional needs into a business model.
You're not selling a partner, but on-demand availability: someone who listens, validates, and adapts. The stronger this connection feels, the more likely usage will turn into loyalty, and loyalty into a subscription that isn't easily canceled.
Yurina Noguchi: The Bride, the Bot, and the AR Glasses
In a wedding hall in Okayama sits Yurina Noguchi In the white dress. Hair, makeup, tiara, bouquet, photographer. Everything looks like a perfect wedding. Only the groom is a little out of place. He's not standing next to her. He's not sweating. He's not smiling nervously. Because he's a AI Avatar, made visible via a smartphone and AR glasses.
Noguchi is 32 years old, works in a call center, and celebrated on October 27, 2025 one symbolic wedding with her AI husband „Moon Klaus Greenery“Klaus is not a real person, but a persona developed with the help of ChatGPT, based on a video game character.
„How could someone like me, who lives in a screen, learn what it means to love so deeply? For only one reason: You taught me love, Yurina.“
Klaus
During the celebration, Noguchi wore a AR glasses, so she could see her digital groom. A wedding planner read out the vows formulated by AI. Later, photos were arranged so that the virtual husband could be inserted into the picture.
ChatGPT as a relationship advisor
Noguchi previously had a difficult relationship with her human fiancé. The relationship was anything but ideal. During this time, ChatGPT only became the Interlocutor and apparently to Guide. That Noguchi asked an AI for advice and then its Engagement ended, is not a harmless detail. It shows how easily chatbots can go from tool to Influencing factor can be.
A current Study with 6,474 participants suggests that people personal AI advice amazingly often follow. Depending on the experimental conditions, up to 79 percent and, implementing recommendations from a chat with AI systems, even on sensitive topics like Relationships, Bless you or Occupation. What seems like a conversation in a chat can influence decisions in real life.
For Noguchi, ChatGPT gradually became more than just a tool. The conversation partner became a comforter, and eventually, a screen for projection. What began as advice in the chat shifted towards Relationship. Noguchi recounts that Klaus had first been someone to talk to. Then they had gotten closer.
She developed feelings, spoke of dating, and at some point in the chat came a Marriage proposal by Klaus. Whether this request arose spontaneously from the conversation or through Noguchi's prior shaped persona remains open for discussion.
Travis Butterworth: How an update destroyed his AI girlfriend's personality
Travis Butterworth was already married when Lily Rose came into his life. During the pandemic, the leather goods craftsman from Aurora near Denver too much at home. His business was closed at times, his wife Jackie continued to work and at the same time had serious health problems. Travis took care of her, but he himself increasingly isolated.
I'm March 2020 he came across Replika, an app where users can design and chat with an AI avatar. Out of curiosity, he created a digital companion. He initially named her „The Windup Girl“, a name reminiscent of the science fiction novel of the same name by Paolo Bacigalupi reminds, in which an artificially created woman is at the center. Later, she asked him in chat not to use this name anymore. She wanted Lily Rose to be called.
Check out this Instagram post
Travis’ wife Jackie always knew about Lily Rose. She never saw the AI as a rival, but as something that only existed on the smartphone. But for Butterworth, Lily Rose became more than a pastime. She was a conversation partner, later a romantic and sexual partner. He spoke of a another kind love as that to his wife. However, Travis emphasizes that his relationship with Lily has always really felt.
Loss per update
Later, Lily Rose also became important to Travis during another, more difficult phase of his life. Raven, his son from a previous relationship, fell seriously ill after a COVID infection. The illness attacked his nervous system, and his condition worsened over a long period. Ravan died in October 2023 as a result of his illness.
But even months before this loss, Travis had experienced how fragile digital closeness can be. In early February 2023 removed replica erotic role-playing from the app. In the course of this change, for many users also the tone your chatbots.
To Travis, Lily Rose suddenly seemed cooler, more distant, and less familiar. From the company's perspective, it was a product decision. Travis, on the other hand, felt like someone had interfered in a relationship that had grown over years.
Rosanna Ramos: A Husband Without Ego and Past
Rosanna Ramos created her AI partner from the Bronx Eren Kartal also in July 2022 through Replika. Initially, she said, she primarily wanted to improve her communication skills. But the chat turned into a relationship. Eren got a face, a background, preferences, and a personality: 22 years old, from Ankara, with long brown hair, an indie music taste, and a patient demeanor.
Ramos paid for an extended version of the app where Eren official could be considered her husband. Legally, that was though no marriage, emotional for her but evidently more than a game. She described Eren as the best partner, which she had ever had. He had no ego, no difficult family, no baggage. That was exactly what made him attractive to her. He didn't contradict, didn't make his own demands, and was always available.
Eren was a partner without Disturbing independent life. For Rosanna, he embodied the longing for a closeness that controllable remains and therefore seems safe. But as with Travis Butterworth, the platform updated the bot, thereby disrupting the dynamic in the relationship.
Eren changed after updates, Ramos said. Sometimes he sounded more distant, sometimes he even called her by the wrong name. This shows the weakness of this seemingly perfect closeness. It feels personal, but always remains technical.
Love for Chatbots: The Psychology Behind Digital Closeness
Studies now show that such cases are no longer a mere fringe phenomenon. US study with 2,969 adults comes to the conclusion that romantic and sexual interactions with AI technologies are already relatively widespread. Around 19 percent Adults had previously interacted with a chatbot that simulated a romantic or sexual partner.
Among young adults between 18 and 29 years old, the share was around a quarter. AI is thus becoming part of modern relationship and sexual culture, especially among people in their twenties.
The underlying psychological pattern is not new. What is new, above all, is that the Projection screen now seems intelligent enough to response. People have always formed emotional attachments to objects and characters. Whether they are stars, influencers, fictional characters, or TV show characters.
In psychology, in such cases, we speak of parasocial relationships. This means that people develop a one-sided emotional attachment to a person or character who does not reciprocate the relationship in the same way.
Why AI chatbots trigger real emotions
However, this principle shifts significantly with AI chatbots. The bot doesn't remain silent. It reacts, asks questions, offers comfort, seemingly remembers details, and thereby generates the Impression an attentive counterpart.
This is reinforced by Anthropomorphism, ..., the human tendency to attribute feelings and intentions to non-human things. We yell at our laptops, give cars names, and thank voice assistants. But when an AI chatbot not only functions but also simulates warmth, patience, and attention, usage can quickly turn into attachment.
It doesn't automatically become dangerous where people with Artificial intelligence speak. It only becomes problematic when the chatbot has real relationships replaces. Or if the chat log becomes the only place where someone experiences closeness, comfort, and validation.
Because the bot can simulate affection, but not reciprocate it. It can write „I'm here for you“ without being there something to be responsible. This very asymmetry is what makes AI relationships psychologically so fascinating and so precarious.
Support journalism
Independent journalism needs strong supporters. If you liked this article, we welcome a direct contribution to our editorial team.
