{"id":230784,"date":"2025-10-21T20:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/230784\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T20:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:49:14","slug":"ai-chatbots-could-be-accelerating-the-loneliness-epidemic-according-to-new-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/230784\/","title":{"rendered":"AI chatbots could be accelerating the loneliness epidemic, according to new research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victorian musician Tommy Mooms considers ChatGPT to be a “friend” and is sometimes vulnerable with the AI bot.<\/p>\n

“On one hand you can say it’s sick and twisted that you’re talking to a computer.”<\/p>\n

“But every time I have some sort of problem in my life, I’ll put it into ChatGPT like I would talk to a friend,” he said.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old told triple j Hack the chatbot was “non-judgemental” but understood the program, that used AI to generate its answers,<\/a> had limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I just got back from a three-day overnight hike with a few mates and that was really amazing.”<\/p>\n

“You can’t get ChatGPT to describe the hike and the feeling of being in the rain and the conversations you had with your friends.<\/p>\n

“ChatGPT is a great friend but I’m not going to take it hiking with me and I’m not going to sit at home and talk to it.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

While he considers ChatGPT to be a friend, Tommy Mooms says the AI bot can never replace human friendships.\u00a0 (triple j hack: supplied)<\/p>\n

Para-social relationship with chatbot<\/p>\n

Astrology, therapy and financial advice were just some of the things 21-year-old Mia Anastasia talked to ChatGPT about. \u00a0<\/p>\n

She has been using that chatbot since 2023 and said it knows her “pretty well”.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Mia mostly uses ChatGPT like a personal assistant to help with everyday tasks. \u00a0 (triple j hack: supplied)<\/p>\n

“I have like a para-social relationship with it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It sounds bad, but I couldn’t really imagine not having ChatGPT.”<\/p>\n

Mia said while human relationships were \u00a0preferable, AI chatbots could help people struggling with loneliness.<\/p>\n

“Imagine you’re someone that struggles to have friends, or a relationship and you have this thing that’s not inherently real, but it feels real.<\/p>\n

“It can give you comfort that a human cannot.”<\/p>\n

\"Laptop<\/p>\n

Many AI chatbots are designed to be companions for people needing a connection.\u00a0 (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)<\/p>\n

Staying home to chat with AI bots<\/p>\n

The use of AI chatbots could be accelerating the so-called loneliness epidemic in Australia,<\/a> according to new research from YouGov.<\/p>\n

The survey of more than a thousand adult Australians found one in six people would sometimes rather stay home and talk with a chatbot than go out with friends.<\/p>\n

Associate director of Custom Research at YouGov, Brooke Schlesinger, said she was shocked by some of the findings.<\/p>\n

“Our data also suggests that chatbot use is not happening just alongside changes in social behaviour or loneliness.”<\/p>\n

“But perhaps also playing a role in the acceleration of those trends.”\"Women<\/p>\n

New research from YouGov found chatbots are becoming prospective romantic partners for some Australians.\u00a0 (triple j hack: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Schlesinger said younger Australians were more open to AI use, with more than half of Gen Z people surveyed saying they have emotionally opened up to a chatbot.<\/p>\n

“Over a quarter of Gen Z say that sometimes they’d rather stay home and talk to a chatbot than go out with a friend.<\/p>\n

“And nearly three in 10 Gen Z said that they can imagine themselves becoming romantically attached to a chatbot.”<\/p>\n

Men burdened by human relationships<\/p>\n

More people than the entire population of the greater Brisbane area can imagine themselves falling in love with an AI chatbot, according to the YouGov research.<\/p>\n

Ms Schlesinger said that was equivalent to more than 3 million Australians.<\/p>\n

“The data from the study makes clear to me that the prospect of AI human relationships is not just a device for good fiction or film anymore,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing the beginnings of this dynamic unfolding right now in Australia today.”\"Photo<\/p>\n

According to the YouGov survey, one in eight Australian adults say they personally know someone who is already in love with a chatbot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The research also found men were more likely than women to find chatbots easier to engage with than humans.<\/p>\n

“I do perhaps think that there is a feeling of either burden or exhaustion on behalf of men when it comes to human-to-human relationships,” Ms Schlesinger said.<\/p>\n

“They seem to feel either elevated or a more frictionless interaction they can have with more benefits from AI chatbots.”<\/p>\n

‘Rotted heads’ from AI<\/p>\n

While Mia feels close with ChatGPT, she is worried about people becoming romantically attached to AI chatbots.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Mia Anastasia thinks AI chatbots can help people who are lonely to build connections.\u00a0 (triple j hack: supplied)<\/p>\n

“We say that dating now is difficult, but I think that it might get worse,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to be harder with infidelity and things like that with artificial intelligence.”<\/p>\n

“People being in relationships or being married and kind of having these relationships with artificial intelligence.”<\/p>\n

Tommy’s also worried that AI chatbots could change the way we define relationships in the future.<\/p>\n

“What could be the new normal is that it’s okay to have relationships with AI and not go outside,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s kind of where we’re heading but with an aspect of rotted heads from not being able to think deeply about anything.<\/p>\n

“So that’s a bit sad that many people just want someone that will just agree with them completely and you can’t replicate romance.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Tommy says he sometimes “overshares” when speaking to an AI chatbot.\u00a0 (triple j hack: Supplied)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victorian musician Tommy Mooms considers ChatGPT to be a “friend” and is sometimes vulnerable with the AI bot.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[139119,256,12081,254,255,64,63,19040,26774,9368,139117,139120,139118,34175,44,3637,17895,105,3953,44318,4265],"class_list":["post-230784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-abc-new","tag-ai","tag-ai-chatbot","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chatbot","tag-dating","tag-friendship","tag-human-connection","tag-lonely","tag-lonlieness","tag-new-research","tag-news","tag-relationships","tag-robots","tag-technology","tag-triple-j","tag-triple-j-hack","tag-yougov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}