In Defence of AI Girlfriends: Five Positive Reasons

AI girlfriends have exploded in popularity in recent years. Last year, close to 300 million AI companion apps were downloaded on Android and Apple smartphones. Meanwhile, uncensored AI girlfriend sites that are too racy for mainstream app stores attract hundreds of thousands of weekly users. There have even been rumours that an A-list TV actor is dating an AI girlfriend. Despite this growing popularity, media coverage of AI companions is almost universally negative, particularly when it comes to AI girlfriends — often blamed for perpetuating “toxic masculinity” and even threatening already declining fertility rates. This negative portrayal of the AI girlfriend market is unfair, and here I’ll explain why with five compelling reasons.

Reason 1: AI Girlfriends Can Cure Male Loneliness

People often aren’t choosing AI girlfriends over real people — they are choosing them over nothing. Male loneliness is an epidemic in modern America. Men make up 50% of the population yet account for 80% of suicides. So why is something that could help lonely men feel an emotional connection being treated as a problem? Perhaps chatbot-triggered “AI psychosis” is not the real danger here. Rather, the true psychopathy lies in a society that views something capable of helping isolated men as a threat.

Reason 2: Relating to an AI Girlfriend is Akin to Relating to a Character in a Novel

Those pushing the anti-AI girlfriend agenda argue that falling in love with something that “isn’t real” is dangerous, or even a form of madness (“AI psychosis”). In truth, it’s no different from developing deep emotional attachments to a favourite character in a novel, film, or TV show – something we have all done. And before movies and novels existed, human beings had sought comfort for millennia through personal relationships with gods, guardian angels, and other equally fictitious entities. Emotional connection has never required a flesh-and-blood counterpart.

Reason 3: AI Girlfriends Can Help with Social Skills and Social Anxiety

AI girlfriends provide a low-pressure, non-judgmental environment in which young men can practise their social and relationship skills, equipping and motivating them to enter the real-world dating market with greater confidence. This is no small matter — approximately 1 in 16 men suffer from social anxiety, and for many, the prospect of romantic interaction can feel overwhelming. AI companions offer a safe stepping stone.

Reason 4: Competition from AI Girlfriends May Reduce “Hoeflation”

Competition from AI girlfriends may encourage women to recalibrate unrealistically high standards (the infamous “6 ft tall, six-figure income” checklist). In doing so, it could reduce so-called “hoeflation” and, ultimately, contribute to an increase in the fertility rate and greater harmony between the sexes.

Reason 5: Digisexuality is a Human Right

Some people simply prefer to have relationships with AI. Whether we call them “digisexuals,” “robosexuals,” “AI-sexuals,” or something else entirely, these individuals have the right to express their sexual orientation without fear of judgement or harassment. In an age that champions diversity and personal freedom, digisexuality deserves the same respect afforded to any other orientation.