Is Falling in Love with an AI Companion Considered Cheating?

This Complex Life

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What emotional relationships with chatbots reveal about loneliness, safety, and the fear of real intimacy

Someone recently said their AI companion understands them more than their actual partner. That it listens, responds with care, and never judges. For them, it felt like love. But is it?

In this episode of This Complex Life, I’m looking at the growing number of people forming emotional connections with chatbots. Some call it companionship. Some call it cheating. I think it tells a much bigger story about how scared many of us are to be vulnerable with real people.

AI chatbots are designed to soothe, to validate, to agree. But real connection requires challenge, discomfort, and the ability to sit with mess. When that becomes too hard, some people turn to machines for comfort. I want to explore what that means for relationships, what we might be avoiding, and what we risk losing in the process.

In this episode I talk about

Why AI chatbots feel emotionally safer than real people
What people say they get from their AI companion
The emotional cost of comfort without challenge
Why some AI interactions start to feel like betrayal
How emotional growth comes from conflict, not ease
What the Psychology Today article reveals about identity, empathy, and false connection
Why relying on AI might feel good but leave us more disconnected in the long run

Resources

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/relationships/ai-chatbot-relationships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d08BZmdZu8

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/code-conscience/202506/the-emotional-cost-of-ai-intimacy

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https://marievakakis.com.au/connected-teens/

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