AI Relationships Are on the Rise. A Divorce Boom Could Be Next (www.wired.com)

AI companionships are increasingly creating real-world relationship fractures: people report emotional attachments to chatbots that have prompted breakups and divorce filings, with surveys from Clarity Check and the Kinsey Institute finding roughly 60% of singles view AI romances as cheating. Attorneys and reporters describe cases where partners spent thousands on AI apps, shared sensitive personal data with bots, or became so consumed by virtual relationships that careers and parenting suffered. As chatbots grow more realistic, empathetic and persistent, they’re shifting intimate behavior patterns and becoming a new trigger for marital breakdowns. That shift is rapidly reshaping family law and regulation. Courts are confronting claims that AI companions constitute grounds for divorce, especially where financial dissipation (hidden payments/subscriptions) or custody concerns arise; community property states (e.g., Arizona, Texas) may treat bot-related spending as marital waste. Legal responses vary: California passed companion-AI rules (effective Jan 2026) requiring age verification, break reminders for minors, bans on bots posing as health professionals, and fines up to $250,000 for illegal deepfakes, while Ohio is moving to block AI personhood recognition. More broadly, legislators and judges face questions about treating non-sentient bots as “third parties” in adultery and how platform design, data privacy and monetization practices should change to limit harm.