The Business Times
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THINKING ALOUD

Love in the time of chatbots

Virtual companions are filling a gap that real humans used to fill. Their success as a product speaks to our failures as a species.

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    • To draw emotional succour from virtual companions is to risk losing some of the very humanity that they were designed to replicate.
    • To draw emotional succour from virtual companions is to risk losing some of the very humanity that they were designed to replicate. PHOTO: FREEPIK

    Leow Ju-Len

    Published Tue, Apr 21, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    APPARENTLY people are falling in love with chatbots now, and I want to be clear that I am not judging.

    At various points, I have been in love with my television remote, my power drill, and a tattered pair of cargo shorts, so who am I to talk?

    According to a recent BBC article, about 40 per cent of users of Replika, a companionship app powered by artificial intelligence, are in romantic relationships with their virtual companions.

    Thinking AloudChatbotsArtificial IntelligenceTechnologyBusiness

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