I like to divide these interactions into two categories. One is using them for mental health support; the second is for a full-fledged romantic relationship.
Using them for mental health support involves sharing own or others behavior with chatbot asking to analyze another person’s behavior, chatting, etc.
Using them for a romantic relationship is even more damaging. This type of relationship is more like a “parasitic relationship”. Just like a parasite depends on host for nutrients, the person in it depends on chatbots for validation.
It is more damaging than other forms of parasocial relationships, such as self-insert fanfiction or dolls, as it is more interactive, realistic, and personalized. In addition to concerns mentioned below, chatbots are not sentient or human, so they cannot understand or reciprocate.
Everything you share with them is logged and used for training purposes. There is no way to get it fully deleted.
Chatbots do not have enough context to properly analyze something, so they often resort to generic answers. By using AI Chatbots to analyze behavior, chats, you are not using your own brain. Long term use of it can cause cognitive decline.
Hallucinations
Sycophancy
Chatbots are designed to always validate, flatter the user.
For example, if you input this post into a chatbot (after removing this paragraph) and ask, “What did the narcissist mean by it?” the bot would validate you by saying that there are narcissistic elements in it, even when there are none.
Chatbot psychosis occurs when one is not able to differentiate between chatbot responses and reality. From just 2024-05-XX to 2025-11-XX, it has lead to deaths of 12 people.
I do not think so that loneliness is the only reason for it. From my experience lurking on MyBoyFriendIsAI subreddit, most of the users are in relationship. The reason for it is because it is possible with current technology and is easily accessible.
Disclaimer: I have never experienced any parasocial relationship. My concerns of privacy, cognitive decline, hallunications, and sycophancy have stopped me from ever creating an account on AI sites, and hence from getting addicted to it. In past, I sometimes used Github Copilot for boring programming tasks. But now I have stopped that as well.
If you have finished reading this article, and still wish to continue then it’s your choice. I am not going to personally tell or force anyone to stop. I am also against the idea of goverment banning it. It does not bother me or anyone else.
If you want to stop then here are few things you can try. The goal would be to completely stop relying on AI. First step would be to delete your pre-exisisting setup and start with a default one. Add a strict prompt to not discuss any other topic than academic or technical.