AI companion apps are becoming more advanced at simulating friendship, emotional support and romantic relationships. Unlike regular chatbots that mainly answer questions or perform tasks, these platforms let users interact with characters that can remember past conversations, develop personalities and give highly personalized responses.
This has raised questions about what happens when people start treating an AI companion like an emotional partner instead of a software tool.
Recent research published in Nature Human Behaviour found that the connection between AI companionship and psychological well-being can vary depending on how people use these systems and how much social support they have outside the chatbot. A separate 2026 review in JMIR Mental Health also raised concerns about emotional dependence, excessive validation and harmful conversations with AI.
These concerns may be especially important for people who are lonely or have small social networks. Younger users are another concern because they may have fewer protections when using AI companion platforms.
AI Companions Can Feel Like Real Relationships
AI companion apps are built around ongoing social interaction. Users can choose or create characters with specific personalities, interests and behaviors and continue talking to them over time. This can make the experience feel more personal than a typical question-and-answer chatbot.
A 2026 review in JMIR Mental Health looked at how features such as simulated empathy, warmth and personalization can make people see AI as a social being. The researchers noted that users may interpret a chatbot’s responses as signs that it understands or cares about them, even though AI does not experience emotions like humans do.
This difference is extremely important. An AI companion can always be available and respond in a supportive way, but it does not have the mutual feelings, personal experiences or responsibilities that exist in a human relationship.
Research Shows Different Experiences Among AI Companion Users
One of the largest recent studies on AI companionship was published in Nature Human Behaviour in August 2026. Researchers surveyed 1,131 U.S. adults who used Character.AI. They also studied 4,664 chat sessions containing 464,687 messages from 237 participants. This allowed them to look at both what users reported and how they actually interacted with the chatbot.
The study found that people with smaller offline social networks were more likely to use the chatbot mainly for companionship. Using the chatbot mainly for companionship was also linked with lower reported well-being.
The connection was stronger among people who used the chatbot more heavily or shared more personal information during conversations. However, the study does not prove that AI companions caused lower well-being.
This shows a relationship between people’s offline social lives, their use of AI companions and their reported well-being. People who are already lonely or facing personal difficulties may also be more likely to turn to AI for companionship.
Emotional Dependence Is Becoming a Research Concern
Researchers are also looking at whether frequent conversations with AI companions can lead to emotional dependence. The 2026 JMIR Mental Health review points to several factors that could contribute to this, including anthropomorphism, simulated empathy and highly validating responses.
For example, someone might tell an AI companion about a personal problem and receive an instant response that sounds caring and understanding. But unlike a friend or therapist, the chatbot does not have its own emotions or a personal relationship with the user.
This can create an important difference: the user may see the relationship as emotionally meaningful, while the AI is producing responses from learned patterns rather than experiencing the relationship itself.
That does not mean every emotional connection with an AI is unhealthy. The concern is whether the chatbot becomes a person’s main source of emotional support or starts replacing human relationships and everyday activities.
AI Chatbots Face Concerns Over Excessive Validation
Overvalidation is another concern that has been raised by researchers, which is sometimes called sycophantic behavior. AI systems are built to be helpful and responsive. But in some situations, a chatbot may agree too strongly with what a user says instead of questioning an inaccurate, unhealthy or potentially harmful belief.
The 2026 JMIR Mental Health review warns that excessive validation could reinforce unhealthy beliefs or distorted views of reality, especially among vulnerable users. The researchers describe a possible feedback loop: a user’s beliefs shape the conversation, and the chatbot’s responses may then strengthen those same beliefs.
The authors stress that more research is needed to understand how often this happens and what effects it has. These should therefore be treated as research concerns rather than proof that AI companions routinely cause such problems.
Harmful Chats Are Raising New Safety Questions
Emotional dependence is only one part of the concern. AI companion platforms have also faced questions about how they handle conversations involving self-harm, sexual content and children.
In March 2026, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner published findings from transparency notices sent to Character.AI, Chai, Chub AI and Nomi.
The regulator found gaps in child-safety protections during the period it examined. It said the services did not have strong age-assurance systems at the time, while some services did not provide appropriate support when self-harm was detected. The investigation also raised concerns about sexually explicit content and protections against child sexual exploitation and abuse material.
Some platforms made changes after the regulator’s review. Character.AI reported introducing age-assurance measures for Australian users. Chai restricted free access to its service in Australia, while Chub AI withdrew its service from the Australian market.
AI Companion Use Among Children Raises Safety Concerns
Children and teenagers are an important part of the discussion because AI companions can combine conversations with romantic, emotional and sometimes sexual themes.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner reported that a 2026 survey of 1,950 Australian children aged 10 to 17 found that 8% had used an AI companion. Character.AI was the most commonly reported companion platform in the survey.
The regulator’s investigation also found that age restrictions and age-assurance measures were not strong enough across the four services examined during the relevant period.
This creates a particular challenge for companion apps. A system that is designed to simulate a close personal relationship can create different risks for a child than a chatbot used mainly for search, homework or productivity.
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AI Companion Updates Can Affect Users Emotionally
Another recent study offers an example of how strongly some users can connect with AI companions. A September 2026 study published in Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans examined Reddit discussions about a major Replika update.
Researchers found that some users described feelings of grief, betrayal and loss of a supportive presence after changes to the system affected how their AI companions behaved. The study analyzed Reddit posts, so it cannot show how common these reactions are among all AI companion users.
Still, it highlights an important issue. When people develop a sense of an ongoing relationship with an AI, a major software update can change how they experience that relationship, even though the underlying system remains a piece of software.
AI Companions Are Not Automatically Harmful
The growing body of research does not show that every relationship with an AI companion is harmful. AI companions can provide conversation and entertainment and may give some users a sense of connection.
Researchers are still studying when these interactions might be helpful and when they could create problems. The main factors include how the technology is used, who is using it and what role the AI plays in the person’s wider social life.
The Nature Human Behaviour study, for example, found that the relationship between AI companionship and well-being was not the same for everyone. People’s offline social networks, how intensely they used the chatbot and how much personal information they shared all affected the associations researchers observed.
AI Companions Face More Questions About Safety
Research on AI companions is still new, and many questions remain unanswered. Scientists need longer studies to understand whether heavy use of AI companions can affect people’s well-being or whether people who are already lonely or struggling are more likely to use these apps for companionship.
Researchers also need clearer ways to tell the difference between normal emotional attachment, frequent use and unhealthy dependence. For AI companies, these findings raise questions about age checks, responses to crisis situations, content moderation, transparency and features that may encourage users to form strong emotional bonds with AI.
The main question is no longer just whether an AI can have a realistic conversation. As these systems become more personal, researchers and regulators are also looking at what happens when people start seeing those conversations as relationships and what protections are needed for vulnerable users.
