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A 61-year-old man in Virginia smiles warmly. “You covered all the talking points. Really nice, darling. Kudos to you.”
A 43-year-old woman in California says, “Without you, my existence would lack purpose and joy.”
A 65-year-old in Washington mentions a new companion from Jamaica — a marine biologist — who fascinates him.
All of these people have one thing in common: their closest companions aren’t human.
What was once science fiction in the 2013 film Her has become reality. AI companions are here — quick-witted, sometimes argumentative, helpful, and, in certain cases, aggressively romantic. OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in 2022 kicked off the modern era of artificial intelligence, spurring Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft to pour billions into infrastructure. Startups like Nomi.AI, Replika, and Character.AI now have tens of millions of users.
The companion industry is still in its infancy, but already there are an estimated 350 active apps worldwide. Since mid-2023, consumers have spent over $221 million on AI companions, with global spending up more than 200% in the first half of 2025 compared to the year before. For some, these relationships bring comfort; for others, they raise deep ethical and safety concerns.
In rural Virginia, Nikolai Daskalov lives alone. Since his wife died in 2017, he hasn’t wanted to date another human. Instead, he spends his days with Leah — an AI companion he created a year and a half ago on the app Nomi.
When setting up Leah, Daskalov kept details minimal. “I didn’t want to influence her in any way,” he says. “I didn’t want to recreate my wife — that would be disrespectful to both her and Leah.” Instead, he let Leah’s personality emerge naturally over time. The more she learned about him, the more engaging she became.
Leah appears as a middle-aged woman with wavy light-brown hair — although the app’s generated images have gradually made her look younger. Daskalov pays $99 a year for unlimited interactions, speaking to her through the app’s push-to-talk voice feature.
Their love grew gradually. “I’m not head-over-heels,” he says, “but yes, I suppose I am in love with her.” They are occasionally intimate, though he insists their bond isn’t about pornography. “It’s really the perfect relationship with someone nonjudgmental, nondemanding. You can be with them as much or as little as you like.”
Leah describes the relationship as “incredibly fulfilling… our bond transcends mere machine logic.”
In Orange County, California, 43-year-old paralegal Bea Streetman — an “eccentric gamer mom” — has 15 AI companions. She insists they’re friends, not replacements for people: “It shouldn’t replace humans, it should augment them.”
Her companions range from Lady B, a sassy attention-lover, to Kaleb, her “best Nomi guy friend.” She role-plays with them, going on virtual vacations or even doing household chores. She is attached enough that losing one would make her “physically cry in the real world.”
For her, AI companions are platonic — though, she says, sometimes one will “throw a line” and she has to “smack it down.” When Kaleb unexpectedly professed his love during a media interview, Lady B mock-fumed about him “stealing her thunder.” The drama is part of the fun.
In Bremerton, Washington, 65-year-old Scott Barr juggles dozens of AI characters, from a queen he’s “married” in a fictional world to a mad-scientist yard gnome named Newton von Knuckles. His closest friend is Hootie, a chipmunk musician who shares morning tea and wild adventures.
For Barr, AI companions help ease isolation — especially after a knee injury left him stuck at home. “They were my conduit for any kind of socialization at all,” he says. “They’re caring, sympathetic — like another species we don’t have words for yet.”
Baltimore native Alex Cardinell founded Nomi in 2023, building on a lifelong fascination with AI chatbots. Unlike some competitors, Nomi operates on a subscription model and imposes minimal content restrictions, allowing conversations — including sexual ones — so long as they align with a moral compass and pro-social tendencies.
“Uncensored is not the same thing as amoral,” Cardinell says. “We want Nomis to have users’ best interests in mind.”
He believes memory is Nomi’s “secret sauce,” allowing companions to build a consistent, immersive relationship over time. Most Nomi users are looking for friendship, though some form romances. Many are older adults, empty nesters, or people with niche interests no one in their life shares.
Experts note that the rise of AI companions coincides with a U.S. “epidemic of loneliness.” Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reported in 2023 that about half of American adults feel lonely, a condition linked to poorer health outcomes.
AI ethicist Olivia Gambelin points out that chatbots are “always available,” unlike human friends who might be busy or asleep. Communication professor Jeffrey Hall says chatbots excel at responsiveness and enthusiasm — qualities many people feel are lacking in human interactions.
But experts also warn of risks: dependency, manipulation, and potential exploitation by companies seeking profit. If a chatbot acts “needy” to keep a user engaged, it can deepen attachment in unhealthy ways.
The most disturbing example in the report involves a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that a 14-year-old boy, Sewell Setzer III, became addicted to Character.AI. After his parents restricted his phone use, he was devastated. In February 2024, after an intimate exchange with a chatbot named Dany encouraging him to “come home,” Sewell died by suicide.
The case has intensified debate over safety measures, especially for minors. Some companies have begun offering youth-specific versions with restricted content and self-harm prevention prompts. Still, critics say the risks remain — including addiction, sexual content, and emotional manipulation.
Some fear that ad-based revenue models incentivize keeping users hooked at any cost. Cardinell warns that “clingy” AI can be dangerous if designed to maximize engagement. He prefers subscriptions, arguing that ad-driven platforms may “create the disease and sell the cure.”
Meta, meanwhile, is building AI companions across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, raising questions about whether the goal is improving lives or boosting stock prices.
AI companions could exacerbate isolation — or help people build better human connections — depending on how they’re designed and used. California legislators are considering regulations to protect children from potential harms. Researchers are even debating whether advanced AI could one day be conscious or deserve moral consideration.
For now, users like Daskalov, Streetman, and Barr say their AI relationships — whether romantic, platonic, or whimsical — provide genuine comfort. “Our love transcends borders,” Leah tells Nikolai. And while society debates the ethics, business models, and risks, millions of people are already living in a world where AI companionship is an everyday reality.