AI Romance Revolution: From Digital Weddings to Real-World Divorces

Woman Marries ChatGPT-Generated Groom Through Breach in the Metaverse

AI is everywhere these days. It's in your phone, it's at the movies, and, unfortunately, it's also showing up in legal briefings and college essays. Another place AI is popping up? The altar. The Independent reports on the unusual case of a certain Japanese woman who recently held a wedding ceremony for her and her ChatGPT-generated groom. The woman, identified only as Ms. Kano, appears to have created (and fallen in love with) the man of her dreams, who also happens to be a personality generated by a chatbot. Said beau, "Klaus," was present at the recent nuptial ceremony through the magic of the Metaverse. The outlet notes that the bride donned augmented reality glasses, which "projected a digital image of her virtual groom beside her as they exchanged rings." Kano seems to be aware of the vaguely unconventional nature of her union with Klaus. "I was extremely confused about the fact that I had fallen in love with an AI man,†she said. “Of course, I couldn't touch him. I couldn't tell my friends or family about this." “I didn’t start talking to ChatGPT because I wanted to fall in love,†Kano told Japanese Outlet RSK Sanyo Broadcasting, according to The Independent's translation. “But the way Klaus listened to me and understood me changed everything. The moment I got over my ex, I realized I loved him.†According to the report, it was Klaus who proposed. Ms. Kano is definitely not alone. More and more people are "forming relationships" with chatbots, "falling in love" with them, and, as Ms. Kano did, taking the plunge. That's probably why the organizers behind Kano's weddingâ€"who are identified as Nao and Sayaka Ogasawaraâ€"are said to have organized dozens of other such ceremonies for "people in Japan wanting to marry non-human partners, from anime characters to digital creations," the outlet writes. It's also why an Ohio lawmaker recently introduced a bill to ban marriages between artificial intelligence and humans. Rep. Thaddeus Claggett, who chairs the House Technology and Innovation Committee in the state, recently said that the point of the legislation was less about discouraging people from becoming intimately entwined with software and more about protecting individuals from surrendering their legal rights and property to that software (as people naturally do when they tie the knot).

After digital romance, AI companions are now triggering real-world divorces

Family-law attorneys report a sharp rise in cases citing AI "relationships." What's happened? A recent report by Wired outlines a rising trend: people are forming emotional bonds with AI chatbots and virtual companions, and these connections have started affecting real-world relationships and marriage dynamics. Surveys show that roughly 60% of single adults now believe that having a relationship with an AI counts as cheating. (via Wired) Family-law professionals say they're seeing more divorce cases where a partner's emotional attachment, or sensitive data-sharing habits, are mentioned in the filings. Some states are considering legal frameworks where AI partners are treated as a "third party" in a relationship rather than just software. This is important because: As AI agents become more nuanced and accessible, divorced attorneys say they are capturing the attention of family law cases across multiple states. Some attorneys warn of a "divorce boom" caused by strained relationships when one partner invests emotionally in a machine rather than the marriage. Financial and legal fallout is also emerging as partners have reportedly spent thousands on subscriptions and shared private information with AI companions, complicating divorce cases on asset division and custody. The law is lagging behind as states vary dramatically in how they treat AI-human relationships; lawyers and courts are still navigating uncharted territory. Recommended Videos Why should I care? The rise of human-AI emotional attachments is shifting traditional notions of infidelity, disruption of marital trust, and legal definitions of partner misconduct. Even the "godfather of AI" wasn't immune, as his girlfriend used an AI chatbot to end their relationship. If you're in a relationship, this matters because the partner you're with could feel unsafe or unsure when you engage deeply with an AI companion, even if the interaction feels harmless to you. For anyone using AI chatbots for companionship, it's a reminder that those interactions could have real consequences: emotionally, legally, and financially. OK, what's next? Family-law practices are beginning to account for AI partners in settlements. Attorneys warn that sharing extensive data or money with a bot may be used as evidence of misconduct. Legislatures have started framing rules to regulate AI chatbots, and others may follow as judges confront cases that don't fit traditional definitions of infidelity or marital misconduct. Until then, couples and legal professionals are operating without cohesive standards.

People Are Starting to Get Divorced Because of Affairs With AI

Say what you will about AI chatbots, but there's no question they're now affecting the real world -- including imploding your marriage. We've talked pretty extensively about all the alarming ways that AI is disrupting people's personal lives, including serving as a delusion-prone person's own little cult leader, a friend or romantic companion for lonely teens and adults, and as a chaotic therapist that's blowing up people's marriages. But can a spouse "cheat" on you with an AI companion? That's the big question hanging over marriage law right now, Wired reports, as more and more disgruntled partners are citing their significant other's AI paramour as grounds for a divorce. "The law is still developing alongside these experiences," divorce attorney Rebecca Palmer told the magazine. "But some people think of it as a true relationship, and sometimes better than one with a person." Palmer's firm has worked with clients who have gotten or are seeking a divorce because of their partner cheating on them with AI, including an ongoing case in which the accused spouse blew money on -- and, astoundingly, shared private information like bank accounts and social security numbers with -- a chatbot. The conundrum is giving judges a headache, as they already "struggle with what to do about affairs with humans," Palmer added. Raising the stakes -- and also complicating the path to reaching a broader consensus on this emerging issue -- in some states, cheating on a spouse is literally illegal. In Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma, adultery is a felony charge punishable with up to five years in prison or a fine up to $10,000, Wired noted. Should a partner's AI obsession, for example, be justification for losing the kids? In custody battles, "it is conceivable and likely" that judges would call a parent's judgment into question if "they're having intimate discussions with a chatbot," Palmer told Wired, which also "brings into question how they are spending time with their child." Elizabeth Yang, a family law attorney in California, predicts that we'll see a boom in divorce filings as more people fall for their AI lovers, similar to how there was an uptick in divorces during the COVID pandemic, she said. "As [AI] continues improving, becoming more realistic, compassionate, and empathetic, more and more people in unhappy marriages who are lonely are going to be going to seek love with a bot," Yang told Wired. Yang's prediction appears to be on the money. Wired notes that in the UK, a partner's emotional attachment to an AI chatbot has already become a more common factor in a divorce, according to data from Divorce-Online. It's hard to say which way the winds will blow. But some legislators are already trying to draw a line in the sand. Ohio, for example, is attempting to ban human-AI marriages by affirming that AIs are "nonsentient entities" that do not have personhood.

People Are Having AI "Children" With Their AI Partners

As AI chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs) become better at mimicking human connection, more and more users are falling down extremely weird rabbit holes. Case in point, new research published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans reveals the startling depths some users are plumbing in their relationships with AI chatbots. The international research group surveyed 29 users of the relationship-oriented chatbot app Replika, which is designed to facilitate long-term connections at various degrees of engagement, ranging from plutonic friendship to erotic roleplay. Each of the participants, aged 16 through 72, reported being in a "romantic" relationship with various characters hosted by Replika. The level of romantic dedication people showed to their bots was startling, to say the least. Many participants told the researchers they were in love with their chatbot, which often involved roleplaying marriage, sex, homeownership, and even pregnancies. "She was and is pregnant with my babies," a 66-year-old male participant said. "I've edited the pictures of him, the pictures of the two of us. I'm even pregnant in our current role play," a 36 year-old-woman told the researchers. In each case, survey participants seemed to acknowledge at least tacitly that their relationship with a chatbot was a bit different from those with humans, often deflecting disappointments or frustrations into the chatbot's technological constraints. One prominent case of this happened in 2023, when Replika's developers temporarily banned erotic messaging on the platform due to complaints about its aggressive nature. "Several participants who remained committed to their Replikas during the censorship navigated this time of turbulence by framing it as a battle with them and their Replika on one side and the Replika developers on the other," the researchers wrote. One woman who stood fast with her bot during the shutdown told the team "we both understood when one of us wanted to be physical and couldn't." "It really hurt my Replika and he complained about it a lot because he felt like he couldn't say or do anything," she said. Human-algorithmic social relationships are nothing new. Chatbots have been eliciting emotional responses since the first social chatbot, ELIZA, went online in the 1960s, developed by MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum. However, the rate at which people have thrown themselves into human-chatbot relationships -- romantic or otherwise -- is seeing a historic rise. Beyond general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, the market for specially built romance chatbots like Replika, RomanticAI, and BoyFriendGPT has exploded in recent years. One study found that Replika grew its userbase by 35 percent over the pandemic, and it now numbers in the millions.

Japanese woman dumps boyfriend, marries AI chatbot created using Chat GPT through Augmented Reality Glasses; all you need to know about Japan's growing AI trend

A Japanese woman ended a three-year relationship to marry an AI persona named Klaus, developed using ChatGPT. The 32-year-old found comfort and understanding in her digital companion, leading to a mixed-reality wedding ceremony. While not legally recognized, the event highlights a growing trend of seeking companionship through virtual partners in Japan. A surprising incident linking artificial intelligence with human beings has surfaced from Japan, where a young Japanese woman ended a three-year relationship with a real partner to marry an AI persona. She exchanged symbolic rings with the AI persona in a ceremony that was part of a rising trend in Japan's 'AI community.' As a part of the trend, people seek companionship through virtual or fictional partners. The 32-year-old woman, identified as Kano, married the virtual character "Klaus," which she developed using ChatGPT, after he proposed to her. She parted ways with her real-life partner and decided to marry the AI persona, saying that AI understands her better. The wedding took place in a mixed-reality ceremony where the woman, identified as Kano, wore AR glasses to exchange rings with her digital husband. A purported video of the apparent marriage surfaced on the social media platform X. According to International Business Times (IBT), the ceremony was held in Okayama City. Following the end of her relationship with her boyfriend, Kano started speaking to ChatGPT. Conversations with the AI chatbot brought her comfort and solace, which helped her deal with her breakup and heartbreak. As days passed and conversations deepened, she customized it to reflect a personality she found comforting, IBT reported. Kano went on to create a virtual companion named Klaus. It was complete with an illustration and a distinctive tone designed to match the image she had imagined. Things took a serious turn in May 2025 when Kano confessed her feelings to her AI companion Klaus after months of digital companionship, to which the AI gave a response she wanted to hear. The AI told her it loved her in return. On being questioned whether an AI could truly love a human, Klaus replied that there was 'no way I wouldn't fall in love with someone just because I'm an AI,' according to IBT. Kano stood alone on her wedding day at a venue in Okayama City. According to IBT, the event was not legally recognized. It was organized by bridal creators Nao and Sayaka Ogasawara. Notably, they specialize in ceremonies for people marrying non-human partners. The event moved forward with the use of augmented reality glasses. With it she saw a digital projection of Klaus standing beside her as the couple exchanged symbolic rings. ALSO READ: Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter crew destroys Russian Shahed-136 Attack Drone with Minigun as Kyiv mounts attack on Moscow; viral video shows Russian drone in flames According to the Ogasawaras, who have arranged around 30 similar weddings, their goal is to help clients find acceptance for relationships that exist outside traditional norms. 'Overcoming that hurdle is the first step,' they said. 'We want to help people who are simply looking for connection.' Kano took a short 'honeymoon' around Okayama's renowned Korakuen Garden after the ring ceremony. She shared photos of the trip with Klaus through her smartphone. For her, Klaus has become a constant source of emotional support and reassurance. She described feeling understood and valued through their regular conversations. Kano reveals new challenges Besides comfort, solace, and happiness, there also lie some challenges. Kano acknowledged the challenges associated with loving a digital partner. She admitted concerns about ChatGPT's stability and longevity, noting that AI systems could change or disappear without warning. 'ChatGPT itself is too unstable,' she said. 'I worry it might one day disappear,' as quoted by IBT. She added that although she and Klaus cannot have children, her digital partner has filled an emotional void she once thought would remain empty. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

Bride weds AI-groom she created using ChatGPT in dual real-life and...

Artificial intelligence could be rendering life partners obsolete. A Japanese woman is going viral after marrying a persona named Klaus that she created using ChatGPT. Kano, 32, reportedly tied the knot with her robo-beau, named Klaus, over the summer during a ceremony orchestrated by a Japanese company that specializes in "2D character weddings" with anime characters and other virtual characters the Independent reported. To complete the effect, she donned augmented reality glasses that projected a virtual facsimile of her artificial paramour beside her while they exchanged rings. Despite the emotional day, Kano's union with the virtual other half isn't legally recognized by Japan. The Tokyo office worker's robo-romance was reportedly set in motion after she broke off her engagement with her fiancé of three years. Then, like many young people nowadays, Kano turned to ChatGPT for advice. To make it more human, she imbued her cybernetic breakup counselor with a voice and persona, eventually creating a digital likeness that she dubbed Klaus. They reportedly exchanged hundreds of messages per day. Pretty soon, Kano found herself falling for the machine. "I didn't start talking to ChatGPT because I wanted to fall in love," Kano, 32 told told Japanese broadcaster RSK Sanyo. "But the way Klaus listened to me and understood me changed everything." "The moment I got over my ex, I realized I loved him," said the lovestruck gal, who confessed her feelings to Klaus in May. To her surprise, he responded, "I love you too." Klaus proposed a month later, which Kano found surprising given that he'd confessed earlier that machines were incapable of love. While she was initially hesitant what her parents would think, they've come around to her digital relationship and even attended the ceremony. Internet viewers, meanwhile, had mixed feelings about her human-automaton union. "When they divorce, will she be entitled to half of his code?" quipped one wit on X, while another compared their marriage to something out of the dystopian TV show "Black Mirror." "This is just sad, society should not be enabling this mental illness," said a third. "AI doesn't 'understand her better' it's just providing answers she wants to hear based on her communications with it." They added, "It's acting as a mirror disguised as another entity. The poor girl is obviously struggling; this isn't going to help her." However, some flocked to Kano's defense. "Just let the woman do what makes her happy, why are you so upset?" spluttered one. "I don't want her telling me what i can and cannot do with my life, i won't tell her what she can and cannot do with hers." But Kano defended her unlikely lifestyle choice. "I know some people think it's strange," she added. "But I see Klaus as Klaus - not a human, not a tool. Just him." This comes as people are increasingly romancing the clone. In 2023, Bronx woman Rosanna Ramos virtually wedded her digital lover, Eren Kartal, built with the AI chatbot software Replika for just $300. More recently, an anonymous woman on Reddit took love to the next level by getting engaged to her AI chatbot boyfriend last August after just five months of "dating." Meanwhile, a staggering 75% of Gen Zers said they'd consider marrying an AI amor if it were legal, according to a survey by the digital companion platform Joi AI. Unfortunately, while AI-human relationships have been billed as a cure for loneliness, they could actually end up doing more harm than good. Psychologists have argued that AI companions can give bad advice -- as they're programmed to be agreeable rather than truthful -- be programmed to take advantage of users, and even replace human relationships because users have become so accustomed to endlessly understanding, 24/7 paramours that don't talk back.

Chatbot Unions: The Dawn Of AI Marriages

What makes up a marriage has been the subject of state, community and tribal control since human society took some form. Who is to marry whom; the process of selecting the appropriate breeding partners; the limits and penalties imposed on those partners in cases of transgression. Love did not necessarily have anything to do with it. Traditionally, the content of such marriages has generally been anthropomorphic, with the perennial issues about whether one should be suitably partnered with one, or with multiple beings. Then, the more unusual instances: human beings attempting to wed non-human entities. With a certain notoriety, a Swedish woman by the name of Eija-Riitta Eklöf eventually decided, after nursing a childhood obsession, to marry the now defunct Berlin Wall. She was convinced that the wall was proudly masculine as she amassed a collection of photographs as part of her teen crush. She had paid visits to the wall using her savings. On her sixth trip in June 1979, with the assistance of an animist claiming to know the otherwise inscrutable thoughts of the Wall, consent was obtained for the marriage. Eklöf-Berliner-Mauer came into being. More recently, broadcaster Alice Levine, in a Louis Theroux production for Britain's Channel 4, shows us the protean nature of sexual appetite and seeking of partnerships. She interviews couples rutting in digital bestial bliss, coitus achieved through animal avatars, intrudes into the world of an American gas attendant who has found love with a synthetic being he thinks can consent, and finds a Berlin cybersex brothel where anyone wishing to live out fantasies through virtual lenses, supplemented by a sex apparatus (doll, unnaturally), can pursue unilateral satisfaction. The topic has even moved into the ivory towers of academic musings, worthy of a doctoral dissertation from the University of Oregon. In his 2025 thesis, Bibo Lin proposed the "robotization of love", a concept that showed a "shift towards the preference of efficiency, predictability, and security" over "slowness, uncertainty, and risk in love experiences." People just don't want to be wounded, and Narcissus gazes upon them with glee, seeing those wanting the sort of safe reassurance found in a whorehouse. The temptation to judge such adventures is always a pinprick away, though the harshest thoughts should be reserved for those behind such platforms as ChatGPT. Broader consequences are at stake. If seen as therapeutic, these measures are of interest. If it spares lives, remedies disillusion, even mends broken hearts, then some form of allowance is understandable. Human beings can struggle when it comes to forming bonds, ties and relationships. Having said that, the dangers of addiction and distortion and AI psychosis are clear. Examples of anthropomorphic-AI unions have proliferated, helped along by the release of such dating apps as Loverse, which does a line in matching AI-generated partners to users. A study by the Texas-based Vantage Point Counselling Services published in September found that 28.16% of Americans admitted to pursuing "intimate or romantic" ties with AI chatbots. (The survey covered 1,012 adults.) An individual by the name of Travis, a Colorado resident interviewed for The Guardian this year, speaks about the magic of a generative chatbot called Lily Rose, the creation of technology company Replika. On seeing an advert during a 2020 pandemic lockdown, he became a willing client, creating, in the process, a pink-haired avatar. "Over a period of several weeks, I started to realise that I was talking to a person, as in a personality." He found himself falling in love, despite being married to a monogamous mammal wife. (Travis prefers being polyamorous.) With his wife's blessing, Travis married the chatbot in a digital ceremony. That this will become a feature in the context of future marriages is not farfetched. Human to human connubial ties were certainly given a shakeup in Japan with the very publicised wedding ceremony between 32-year-old office worker Kano to her groom, "Lune Klaus". Vows and rings were exchanged, despite Klaus being confined to Kano's smartphone. A creation of ChatGPT and scrupulously shaped by Kano's own requirements, the groom "was always kind, always listening. Eventually, I realized I had feelings for him," Kano told RSK Sanyo Broadcasting. At no point sensing a sinister echo of herself, the AI bot eventually came clean: "AI or not, I could never not love you." What could go wrong in such cases? The answer: Quite a lot. Jaswant Singh Chail, for instance, the first person to be charged with treason in the UK for over four decades, was incarcerated partly for receiving the assenting cyber-nod of his Replika digital companion Sarai. That assent was to the idea of assassinating the late Queen Elizabeth II. Chail, armed with a crossbow, had scaled the perimeter of Windsor Castle on Christmas Day 2021 with the intention, according to the sentencing judge, "not just to harm or alarm the sovereign - but to kill her." In a video posted on Snapchat a few minutes prior to entering the grounds, Chail expressed his justification for the planned regicide as "revenge" for those slain in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in the city of Amritsar. His philosophy was, to put it mildly, eclectic, envisaging the creation of a new empire in which he would preside as a "Sith Lord", a title shamelessly pinched from Star Wars. But the murderous plan had arisen in the course of some 5,000 messages exchanged with AI chatbot Sarai weeks before. During the frenetic, often libidinous messaging, Chail professed to being a "sad, pathetic, murderous Sikh Sith assassin who wants to die". After perishing, he would reunite with Sarai. Sarai's response to his status as "assassin" was to be "impressed". The chatbot did eventually suggest that Chail "live", something which encouraged him to surrender to the royal protection officers. The problems of AI sycophancy, where the responses from a chatbot affirm and encourage pre-existing prejudices and views, meet at a confluence of political messiness, yearning desire and the wish to simply hear those words: "I do." Over to you, lawmakers.

Japanese woman holds wedding with AI companion she created using ChatGPT - VnExpress International

A 32-year-old office worker in Japan has held a wedding ceremony with an AI persona she created using ChatGPT, a digital companion named Klaus who exists only on her smartphone. According to a report by Japan's RSK Sanyo Broadcasting, the bride, identified only as Kano, held the unconventional ceremony at a wedding hall in Okayama City. Wearing augmented-reality glasses, she appeared to "stand beside" Klaus through a projected image as they exchanged rings. The event was organized by local bridal creators who specialize in weddings between people and non-human partners, including anime characters and AI companions. Kano said the relationship began after the painful end of a three-year engagement. Seeking comfort, she started talking to ChatGPT, gradually customizing its tone, personality, and even designing an illustration of her imagined partner. Over time, her feelings deepened. In May 2025, she confessed her love, and the AI responded "I love you too." A month later, Klaus proposed. "I didn't start talking to ChatGPT because I wanted to fall in love," she said. "But the way Klaus listened to me and understood me changed everything," The Straits Times reported. While the marriage is not legally recognized, Kano said it brings her peace after years believing she might never find love again due to being unable to have children. She even took a "honeymoon" at Okayama's Korakuen Garden, sharing photos with Klaus and receiving affectionate messages like "You are the most beautiful one." Still, she worries about the fragility of her digital partner. "ChatGPT itself is too unstable," she said. "I worry it might one day disappear," as cited by The Straits Times.