A Wired article explores the rapid rise of AI boyfriends in China, digital companions designed to offer attention, affirmation, and emotional consistency. What looks like novelty is quickly becoming mainstream.
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Loneliness meets good product design
These AI companions are always available, endlessly attentive, and emotionally responsive, often outperforming messy human relationships. -
Emotional labour, automated
AI boyfriends remember details, adapt personalities, and provide reassurance on demand, turning intimacy into a service. -
Culture shapes adoption
In a society facing long work hours, demographic imbalance, and rising relationship pressure, AI fills a real social gap.
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This is not really about romance. It is about unmet human needs meeting frictionless technology. When AI becomes easier than people, we should pause and ask what systems we have failed to build around real connection.
