More people are asking chatbots for personal relationship advice

In short: Some people are increasingly using chatbots for advice about personal problems, raising questions about loneliness and human connection.

What's going on

An opinion essay in the Financial Times describes a growing habit, people talking to chatbots about deeply personal issues, including relationship problems. A chatbot is a computer program that chats in text, a bit like messaging a very fast customer service agent.

The writer, Enuma Okoro, says she first heard this at a social gathering and was surprised that someone would “ask a machine” for guidance on their personal life. In the following weeks, she says she met more people who mentioned regular chatbot “sessions” about different problems.

Okoro tried it herself. She says the advice she received sounded reasonable, but the experience left her uneasy. She worried it could become easy to rely on that kind of always available, non-judgmental conversation, and even become a habit that is hard to stop.

The essay connects this trend to loneliness. Okoro points to past comments from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who in 2023 described an “epidemic of loneliness” in America, and suggests many people elsewhere feel disconnected too. She uses paintings of isolated and connected people as a simple comparison, one image of being alone, another of two friends confiding (like choosing to share the weight of a heavy bag instead of carrying it solo).

What to watch

More people may keep turning to chatbots because they are easy to access and feel private. At the same time, the essay argues that chatbot conversations cannot replace the emotional support that comes from real relationships, so expect more debate about where AI fits, and where it should not.

Source: Financial Times