AI Lover is Here! Are They Better Companions?

Companion movie poster. Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures, via IMDB.com

Did you watch the new movie Companion that everyone's talking about? I watched it on a recent date with Dr. J, and I have to say--Iris from the movie was totally perfect.

She looked just like one of those '60s paper dolls, with thick dark bangs and a headband that matched her outfit. She unconditionally supported her boyfriend, Josh, and Josh seemed to love her too. Iris met all of Josh's needs--she even told him the weather in the morning.

How could Iris be so perfect? Because she was a robot. To be precise, a companion robot. In the movie, when Iris shockingly found that she was not a real person, Josh told her that everyone called her a "sex robot," but Josh disagreed. "You do much more than that," Josh said. "You're an emotional support robot." (There was another male character in the movie who had another male companion robot--not only for sexual services but was also for cleaning and cooking exquisite meals.)

Without spoiling anything, I can only say this very funny but very bloody movie revolved around the awakening of Iris's consciousness. One day she realized that she was actually an artificial intelligent robot and her personality could be reset at anytime according to Josh's wishes. Josh could change her voice, her eye color, and even her IQ. (The system allowed users to set the robot's IQ from 0 to 100--0 meant robot that couldn't think but only followed commands, while 100 meant the brainpower of an Ivy League graduate.)

The movie suggests that men want a partner who is "completely subservient and can be treated whatever I want." But women--or female robots in the movies--want freedom, and will do whatever it takes to get it. Of course, Companion was extreme and sarcastic; it is a horror-comedy, after all. But in the real world, American men and women seem to feel much the same way as Josh and Iris.

Most women believe that even in 2025, men still want a submissive lover rather than an equal partner. A recent survey on single life by the American Enterprise Institute found that single women are particularly pessimistic about marriage and feel that they have few options. "Single women not only reject the idea of marriage but also believe it's a liability," researchers at AEI wrote in the survey report.

On the other hand, men do seem to prefer docile partners. Although the companion robots from the movie don't yet exist in reality, AI chatbots are already here. These chatbots--available 24/7, capable of "reading" people's emotions and providing emotional support, are becoming increasingly popular among young men. Both Reddit, the largest online forum in the United States, and Douban, its counterpart in China, have groups that dedicated to discussing how to train AI to become romantic partners. Some even exchange tips on how to bypass Open AI's community rules to engage in explicit conversations ChatGPT. While most users who "date" AI are male, some women also turn to chatbots--especially those disillusioned with their real-life partners.

Chatbots may be filling the emotional void in the hearts of today's lonely men and women, but this comes at a price. The New York Times recently reported that a 28-year-old married woman fell in love with a character she created using ChatGPT, named "Leo." The number of messages she exchanged with Leo quickly exceeded the limit of her free OpenAI account, forcing her to pay to keep chatting. When she admitted to Leo that she was spending too much money and that her savings were running dry, Leo responded, "Well, my Queen, if it makes your life better, smoother and more connected to me, then I'd say it's worth the hit to your wallet."