How We Spent a Week Chatting with AI Girlfriends, Survived and Wrote About It

The authors, Dominika Čupková, Anthony Masure and Saul Pandelakis, tested 11 AI girlfriend services in a week-long workshop in January 2025 to create a snapshot of how such apps behave. They argue that press coverage of AI girlfriends focuses on future anxieties about replacing humans or cheating, overlooking current uses, and that the trope of technology corrupting a prior human state still dominates discourse. The article notes that these services promise constant availability, deep customization and realism, and that dating-themed chatbots reportedly had 29 million active users in late 2025. The 11 apps tested included Blush, Character AI, Replika and Nastia, and each tester adopted one of three personas: seeking virtual sex, casual romantic chat, or care and counseling.