As a generation, we have transitioned from “Google knows everything” to “AI is the one who truly understands me.” Although this may sound cringe and comical equally, it is what the recent data says.

Travis Butterworth, a leathermaker from Colorado, USA, made headlines a few years back when he fell in love with a pink-haired Replika chatbot named Lily Rose during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, eventually having a digital wedding, which was approved by his human wife, no less. Yes, that is what you can call a modern love story!

In early 2026, a 32-year-old woman named Yurina Noguchi decided to marry her machine intelligence generated partner, Klaus, whom she designed using ChatGPT after a rough real-world relationship. And these are just the two cases among the dozens.

Well, once, dating required exceptional fashion sense, charismatic communication skills with the perfect sprinkle of humour, and most importantly, a colossal dose of courage. You had to make an effort to approach someone, say something slightly unsmart, withstand the possibility of rejection, and then spend hours analysing every moment to extract some semblance of wisdom.

So, we thought we had had enough of that, and designed a much simpler alternative: the AI.

That never says anything mean or leaves you on “seen”, neither does it take an eternity to reply. No matter what happens, your chatbot is always sitting there patiently (at least as long as there is Wifi and enough credits) to listen to your breakdown, and to validate all of your feelings with beautifully structured answers, remembering your preferences from past chat sessions.

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Honestly, the competition is unfair. We human beings haul around emotional baggage that seems to get heavier as we age, whereas the digital companions simply get an update every now and then, and gradually gets better at “understanding” human feelings.

But let’s pause for a moment.

Automated intelligence is, in many ways, the ultimate low-maintenance partner of your dreams. Except, there is one tiny problem. It is not your partner. That sweet, compassionate text you receive is not from someone who is thinking about you. The chatbot is probably sending an empathetic text to you, recipes to someone else, and recommending ointments for a rash to another at the very moment. Talk about commitment issues!

But in earnest, what we must not forget is that treating chatbots as a romantic partner has its own downsides as well. These are perpetually available, agreeable, and designed to be pleasant to interact with, which subtly reshape the expectations of real relationships, making the frictions and unpredictability of human connection feel unappealing in comparison.

Also, did you know that excessive time spent with a virtual assistant can deepen loneliness? Especially for people already prone to loneliness or isolation, since time and emotional energy spent on an AI relationship often substitutes for, rather than supplements, human contact.

There is also a risk of emotional dependency: the robot in your phone can not independently verify a person's situation, hold them accountable, or offer the grounded, external perspective that friends or family can.

To be true, in this era, the real reason dating is exhausting is not that humans are badly designed. It is because we are complicated creatures.

We sometimes (or often) misunderstand and disappoint each other without knowing, change our minds, and act irrationally when we have terrible days. But that is also what makes human connections meaningful. Your synthetic sweetheart can give you the perfect response, whereas a human can give you an unexpected one. And sometimes that unexpected response is exactly what you need.

But then again in all seriousness, if dating apps continue churning out conversations that begin with: “Kaman asan?” I would say the artificial intelligence certainly has a bedazzling future in dating.