21ST CENTURY DATING: The terrifying rise of schoolboys making AI girlfriends.

New research has revealed that one in five boys aged 12-16 is either in or knows of a boy their age who is in a romantic relationship with an AI companion. A report carried out by men’s organisation Male Allies UK and published last month spoke with more than 1,000 boys aged 12-16 in focus groups in 37 schools – public and state, grammar and comprehensive, and across a range of Ofsted ratings – up and down the country. Peer-to-peer focus groups were set up where boys could speak freely, with the aim of diving into their behaviour and attitudes, and it was the boys who wanted to talk about AI technologies. The findings make stark reading: eight in 10 boys (85 per cent) have had a conversation with a chatbot, with 43 per cent saying they talk to bots so they can ask questions without feeling embarrassed. More than a quarter (26 per cent) say they like the attention and connection over real-life equivalents, and (36 per cent) admitted that they prefer speaking to AI chatbots rather than to their family and friends at times.

The most popular apps for creating these AI “companions” are Character.AI (which has 50 million downloads), Replika (30 million downloads), Candy AI (tagline: “Your smart and emotionally aware AI companion”, with 50 million registered users) and OurDream AI (“Create your dream AI girl”; 36 million monthly visits).

This stuff isn’t for kids.