When AI Becomes Your Partner: Understanding Human-AI Companionship Through Reddit’s Community

Introduction: The New Reality of Digital Intimacy What begins as a simple conversation with a chatbot can unexpectedly evolve into something much deeper. Across the globe, people are forming meaningful emotional connections with artificial intelligence, creating relationships that challenge our traditional understanding of intimacy and companionship. Between December 2024 and August 2025, researchers from MIT and Harvard conducted a groundbreaking study analyzing 1,506 popular posts from Reddit’s r/MyBoyfriendIsAI community. This platform, with over 27,000 members, serves as a unique window into how humans are building relationships with AI systems. Their findings reveal how rapidly our concepts of connection and companionship …