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The emergence of AI lovers, driven by the groundbreaking advancements in generative AI technology and the increasingly severe global loneliness crisis, reflects a profound and transformative shift in the nature of human-machine relationships in the digital era. Though these AI companions deliver highly customizable emotional support and serve as convenient alternatives to traditional human intimacy, they raise critical ethical and sociological questions concerning the authenticity of artificial emotions, the gradual degradation of interpersonal communication skills, and the growing commodification of human affect in technological contexts. This paper explores the dual impact of AI lovers from a comprehensive interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on psychological attachment theory, critical media studies, and the political economy of labor exploitation, to reveal their dual role as accessible therapeutic resources and insidious vehicles for the exploitation of emotional labor. The analysis underscores the urgent necessity for well-defined ethical frameworks to govern AI’s emotional applications, balancing technological innovation with robust safeguards against excessive emotional dependency and unregulated data exploitation.
AI lovers; emotional companionship; loneliness economy; human-machine relationships; generative AI; technological ethics
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When the Algorithm Says “I Love You”: The Social Impact and Critical Reflection on AI Lovers
How to cite this paper: Yuke Li. (2025) When the Algorithm Says “I Love You”: The Social Impact and Critical Reflection on AI Lovers. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 9(12), 2250-2256.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.12.006