AI relationships are on the rise. A divorce boom could be next
Not Rebecca Palmer is a psychologist, but as a divorce attorney he can often see what’s coming.
For many people today, as AI saturates every aspect of life—from work to therapy—the allure of an AI romance is tempting. Chatbots are reliable, can provide emotional support, and for the most part, never fight with you. But for married couples looking for a long-term commitment, chatbot romances also add a new wrinkle. Love has never been easy, Palmer says, but spouses whose emotional needs aren’t being met “are the most vulnerable to AI’s influences and behaviors.” “And especially if the marriage is already in trouble.”
Reddit is full of stories from people who say AI has caused a rift in their relationships. A woman decided to end her 14-year marriage after discovering her husband believed he was having an affair with what he called a “sexy Latina babe” – spending thousands of dollars on a OnePay credit card and an AI app “designed to mimic underage girls”.
In June, WIRED reported on the tangled future of chatbot love. The story followed Eva, a 46-year-old writer and editor from New York who, after becoming too dependent on her AI companions – she admits “it became harder to ignore them” – ended her relationship with her human partner after they both admitted she felt he was cheating on her.
As chatbot romances become more common and cause lasting rifts in relationships, a new legal frontier in family law is emerging that rewrites the rules of marital misconduct: an AI affair is now grounds for divorce.
According to the Institute for Family Studies, there is a growing belief among some that AI romances should be treated like human romances, especially as more and more adults say they prefer it. According to two recent surveys by Clarity Check and Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, about 60 percent of singles now say relationships with AI are cheating.
“The law is still evolving around these experiences,” says Palmer, whose Orlando-based firm works with spouses who have divorced or are in the process of divorcing AI partners because of infidelity. “But some people see it as a real relationship and sometimes better than a relationship with a person.” Palmer declined to discuss any specifics due to client confidentiality, but said one of his current cases involved spending money and sharing private information — such as bank accounts, Social Security numbers and birth information — with a chatbot that “destroyed a spouse’s life and affected job performance.”
More and more, courts are beginning to see emotional bonds with AI companions as grounds for marital duress or dissolution. Although legal classifications of AI still vary from state to state in the context of family law, Palmer adds that laws classifying AI as “a third party, not a person” are fast approaching in progressive states like California. He doesn’t foresee courts recognizing AI partners as persons — debates over AI personhood have been going on for as long as the technology has existed — but they may be recognized as “reason” why a divorce is meritorious.
