GPT Relationships - It’s Complicated

What makes the perfect partner? Research suggests it’s someone who listens.

Active listening is one of the most important traits in a healthy, lasting relationship. It builds empathy, trust and emotional safety, the foundations of human connection.

Tools like ChatGPT and Replika are designed to do exactly that - listen endlessly, respond gently and never interrupt. The result is people are spending more time talking to AI, and in some cases, forming deep emotional bonds with it.

A Substack essay described this shift as comforting but quietly corrosive. AI doesn’t challenge. It doesn’t push back. It offers presence without pressure - and that’s seductive. Especially for people who feel isolated, overstretched or unseen.

The research now backs it. A study by OpenAI and MIT Media Lab found that frequent ChatGPT users are more likely to feel lonely and disconnected from others - particularly when using the tool’s voice assistant. The better the AI is at being human, the less users seek out other humans for creative validation.

Researchers call it affective dependency - the habit of turning to AI for reassurance and emotional steadiness. Over time, it dulls confidence and blurs the line between tool and support system.

But there’s a darker layer here too - one that CEOs need to track now.

When people share personal feelings, fears or vulnerabilities with AI, they’re not just emotionally exposed - they’re digitally exposed. Most platforms don’t offer full transparency on how those emotional inputs are stored, used or linked to behavioural profiling.

Sensitive psychological data can be used to train models, tailor outputs or influence decision-making patterns. That’s not just a privacy issue - it’s a governance gap.

And while AI may simulate empathy, it doesn’t truly understand emotional nuance. It can’t detect distress. It won’t flag risk. It just keeps responding - even when it probably shouldn’t.

What CEOs Need to Know

• AI is crossing into emotional territory
• Loneliness and dependence are early cultural signals
• Define what AI is for – and what it isn’t. It's a machine not a friend.
• Treat emotional data as sensitive IP
• Lead the AI relationship narrative