Does Having an AI 'Partner' Count as Cheating?

Does Having an 'AI Partner' on the Side Count as Cheating? Here's What People Think

July 6, 2024

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The Story

The rise of AI in the past year and change presents us with novel questions. Like: Is talking flirtatiously with an AI ‘companion’ chatbot a form of cheating?

That’s the question DatingAdvice.com asked over 1,000 people in relationships recently, and the answers were fascinating.

The Snapshot

Of those who responded to the survey, roughly 56% were against the idea of a partner getting close or even intimate with an AI chatbot, but only 31% were in favor.

These people might be people who weren’t that wedded to the concept of monogamy to begin with, or they may just see this as distinctly different from having the same interactions with a real person.

Some of those in favor even felt that having an “AI partner” on the side to chat with could help their significant other be a better partner in the real relationship, hinting at a possible use for this idea in the future.

The Lesson

As AI tech continues to creep into our lives in different ways, questions like these may stop being hypothetical and start being very real.

The question in this survey essentially hinges on the following thought experiment: Is it only cheating if it’s with someone else?

Of course, there are some people in monogamous relationships who would see a partner watching porn (or masturbating to fantasies of other people) as forms of cheating.

But whether this counts as cheating likely comes down to whether you see texting with an AI chatbot as more like watching porn or more like flirting with a human. After all, there may not be a real person on the other end, but the feelings it can evoke in a person may still be similar — and that’s something that can understandably engender jealousy.

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