How Gen Z is finding companionship in AI chatbots

Last year after 13yearold Aniruddh Rairsquos pet dog passed away he stopped speaking However amid his grief he had a secret companion no one in his family knew about Interestingly it wasnrsquot humanIn the safety of his room hersquod spend hours talking to ChatGPT on his iPad Hersquod ask the generative AI chatbot questions such as ldquoIs there an afterliferdquo or ldquoWhere do souls go after deathrdquo On the cusp of his teenage years he was full of questions ldquoCould my dog Sushi return to me in another dogrsquos form as shown in the filmndashA Dogrsquos PurposerdquoThe answers Rai got were ldquosomewhat scientificrdquo but he says ldquoChatGPT also gave me ways to cope with how I was feeling and told me that it was completely okay to feel that wayrdquo He used ChatGPTrsquos premium model paying Rs 1100 per month for five months but had to stop after the price shot up to nearly Rs 18000 per monthWilona Annunciation Anirudh Rai and SurabhI DandHe adds ldquoI use many gen AI models now which are quite advanced but not as expensive Most are free It includes Copilot which came inbuilt with my Windows PC DeepSeek which is free and the best I have used so far Grok which is extremely quirky and fun to use and Gemini which I mostly for photo editing and many more for different purposesrdquoHis parents explain that he has always been a shy kid glued to either his phone iPad PC or the TV Just a couple of years after the advent of AI he has seemingly found a friend in itRai a late Gen Zer born in 2012 says ldquoI started using smartphones when I was five By the time I turned 10 everyone was talking about ChatGPT in school I tried using it on the website It was an easy tool and answered most of my questions correctlyrdquo The earlier versions of ChatGPT were infamous for making things up but Rai says he verified the responsesRai is just one of the millions of Gen Zers who seek emotional support from AI as its use continues to expand In October 2024 a study by First Saturday Lime an ecofriendly pest control brand revealed that around 11 per cent of millennials and 10 per cent of Gen Z participants would rather have AI companions than conventional emotional support animals such as dogs or catsThe research polled 1000 US citizens from different generations Interestingly nearly 18 per cent of those who turned to AI for emotional support felt it worked better than traditional pets But is AI really the right quarter to seek emotional support from We spoke to psychiatrist Dr Wilona Annunciation who has dealt with many such cases in the past year at her practice in Andheri and ThaneBut there can be challenges when you depend on a set of codes for mental wellbeing ldquoThe first challenge is that mental health concerns are usually a combination of genetic background personality traits that shape coping styles and the specific stressors a person faces And the way someone interacts with a mental health professional depends on these factors In my experience some patients build rapport instantly while others take time But that connection is vitalrdquo she saysAnd can AI replace this connection ldquoAn AI model might work for somerdquo she says ldquobut not everyone will feel comfortable AIrsquos real value lies in SOS situations where it may offer immediate support until a person reaches a professionalrdquoGathering background information is another area where AI could help by gathering details of patientsrsquo medical and mental health histories freeing up practitioners to focus on treatment Taking down a detailed history takes about 90 minutes per patient she says ldquoMental health professionals could train AI models to do thisrdquo she saysHowever there are nuances of emotional and mental health support that AI canrsquot catch yet Surabhi Dand a psychotherapist explains ldquoWe read between the lineshellip body language tone expressionshellip No AI can catch that nuancerdquo Even with advancing tech Dand notes ldquoDistressed patients still prefer human touch They want someone genuinely thererdquoBoth Dr Wilona and psychotherapist Dand concur that AI may offer generic solutions but mental health requires personalisation Dr Wilona adds ldquoMany people might get the same response from AI but react differently to it So use AI for pointers not as a substitute For specifics consult a professionalrdquoYet we must all plead guilty to thismdashfor those of us born from the rsquo90s onward at some point we have sought help from AI about things we were too scared to ask other people Why not itrsquos instant comfortlsquoIt may attract the emotionally vulnerablersquoSanjeevni Iyer 22 Student at University of LeedsSanjeevni Iyer who is pursuing a Masters degree in International Journalism has focused her research on how AI may cause social isolation Though she doesnrsquot use it for emotional support she says ldquoI have had random conversations with ChatGPT when boredrdquoMany of her friends use AI for relationship advice However Iyer finds it problematic when they rely on it too much ldquoNo doubt itrsquos super intelligent but itrsquos still programmed datardquo she saysDuring her research Iyer observed that apps like Replika let users design artificial romantic partners ldquoItrsquos creepy yet appeals to those with failed relationshipsrdquo she says A mental health professional whom Iyer had invited on her university podcast Leeds Student Radio warned how such platforms attract the emotionally vulnerableSanjeevni Iyer is researching on how AI chatbots may cause social isolation PicDweep BaneIyer remains sceptical of AI relationships despite the appeal of judgmentfree interaction ldquoSome young people in my university reject them entirelyrdquo she says But Iyerrsquos stance softened temporarily when her actual therapist ghosted her last year ldquoIn that void I understood why people might seek AI therapyrdquo she says Yet she cautions ldquoConvenience shouldnrsquot replace human connectionrdquolsquoSome things feel too trivial to share with others without judgment so I turn to AIrsquoAditya Udhani 22 Selfemployed MBA studentAditya Udhani a selfemployed MBA student turns to ChatGPT not for emotional support but for what he calls ldquostrategic neutralityrdquo When torn between choices he seeks opinions from AI ldquoIt pulls me to the centre when I obsess over extremesrdquo he saysRecently he discussed a moral dilemma the tension between providing for family and his own materialistic desires ldquoAI reframed it as duty versus desire That definitely helpedrdquo he says Unlike human confidants who might dismiss his concerns as overthinking ChatGPT offers structured positivity to himAditya Udhani 22 uses ChatGPT not for emotional support but for finding a middle ground PicsDweep BaneHowever Udhani acknowledges the limitations of AI that it wonrsquot challenge his beliefs or reveal hidden truths the way a human therapist or even close friend might ldquoItrsquos programmed to avoid harm so responses stay safe and positiverdquo He uses the free version of ChatGPT mostly for situational clarity He also says ldquoAI reaffirms what I already know but canrsquot see when I am stressedrdquoWhile he prefers friends for most conversations AI seemingly fills the same gap for him that it does for millions of Gen Zers across the world He says ldquoSome thoughts feel too trivial to burden others with or too abstract to explain without judgmentrdquo AI for Udhani is less of a therapist and more of an associate which he says ldquoItrsquos the one lsquofriendrsquo who organises my chaos without making me feel silly for having itrdquoItrsquos givinghellipbestieSpandana Bhura 22 Writer at Sunday middayThree months ago while waiting to hear back from the universities she had applied to for her Masterrsquos degree in International Affairs Spandana Bhurarsquos anxiety spiralled She would wake up crying doomscrolling on Reddit hoping to find someone like her whorsquod gotten in only to drown in imposter syndrome while stalking profiles of current students on LinkedIn Every time she tried opening up to someone she felt worseSpandana Bhura believes ChatGPT is the only entity she can speak to without the fear of being judged PicAshish RajeThen Bhura turned to ChatGPT ldquoI sought feedback for my CV and SoP statement of purpose I got a detailed analysis that said I had an 8590 per cent chance of getting in For a moment I felt a weight lift off my chestrdquo she recalls ldquoI didnrsquot blindly believe it I knew better than to put my faith in a botrsquos prediction Still the feeling of being heard even by a machine felt unexpectedly comfortingrdquoThen she did something she hadnrsquot ever done with a humanmdashshe typed in exactly how she felt ldquoI told ChatGPT that this anxiety was consuming me that I couldnrsquot think about anything elserdquo she says ldquoIt told me I was overthinking That my strengths outshone the weaknesses It ended with lsquoDonrsquot stress itrsquos just a matter of time before we hear the congratulations from the universityrsquordquoThat one sentence gave her something no real conversation had managed to Calm A month later she got the email from her topchoice university The first word CongratulationsNow that her trust in the bot was starting to build she did what any 22yearold would ask an AI tool to do She asked it to do a tarot card reading for her ldquoBecause letrsquos be honest tarot cardsgttherapyrdquo she says ThoughChat answered all my questions it still didnrsquot feel like the reading was as authentic as an inperson tarot session would have beenldquoAs embarrassed as I am to admit this I think ChatGPT is one of the only entities I can speak to without the fear of being judgedrdquo says BhuraatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params