Can flirting with an AI companion be cheating? A Canadian survey says yes
Researchers found many Canadians view romantic AI companion use as infidelity, especially when it is hidden from a partner.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
Many Canadians view romantic AI companion use as a form of cheating, according to preliminary research described by David Lafortune, Ellfie Chen and Valerie A. Lapointe in The Conversation. The findings add evidence to a growing dispute over whether intimate exchanges with chatbots can cross relationship boundaries even when no other human is involved.
Romantic AI companions are digital systems built to chat, flirt, speak and respond on demand. The researchers said their rise has been rapid: TechCrunch reported that the number of AI companion apps grew by 700% between 2022 and 2025, while Character.AI said it had about 20 million monthly active users in 2025.
The appeal, according to Lafortune, Chen and Lapointe, lies in the way these systems can offer constant availability, customization and emotional validation. They wrote that the technology is spreading as loneliness and social disconnection have become wider public concerns.
Survey finds strong negative reactions
The researchers surveyed 1,815 Canadian adults about whether they would consider a partner’s use of a romantic AI companion to be cheating. They also asked respondents how they would feel about that use and examined differences by demographics, relationship type and ideology.
About half of respondents classified romantic AI companion use by a partner as infidelity, the researchers said. Around three-quarters said they would have a negative emotional response.
The survey found reactions to romantic AI companions were roughly as negative as reactions to dating apps and webcamming, both of which involve interaction with another person. Respondents reacted more negatively to AI companions than to other sexual technologies, including AI pornography and sex toys, according to the researchers.
The study also found secrecy was common among users. Nearly two-thirds of people who used AI romantic companions said they had not told their partner, Lafortune, Chen and Lapointe reported.
Gender, age and ideology shaped views
Responses differed across groups. Cisgender women were about twice as likely as cisgender men to say a partner’s romantic AI companion use counted as cheating, according to the researchers.
Gen Z respondents tended to react more negatively than older participants. People in nonmonogamous relationships were about half as likely as those in committed monogamous relationships to view the use as infidelity.
The researchers also found that social conservatism, religiosity and right-leaning political views were associated with stronger judgments that AI companion use was cheating. They cautioned that the findings come from an unpublished study and should be treated as tentative.
A growing relationship boundary issue
Lafortune, Chen and Lapointe framed infidelity as a breach of sexual or emotional exclusivity that shifts romantic attention or investment away from a primary partner. They argued that romantic AI companions can raise the same concerns because users may confide in them, use them for erotic role play or develop bonds that resemble dating.
The researchers cited U.S. surveys showing that at least one in six adults had interacted at least once with a romantic AI companion. They also cited the Singles in America survey, which found about one-third of respondents said a partner’s use would count as cheating.
Another study of young adults in committed relationships, from the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University, found nearly two-thirds of regular users wished their partner acted more like their AI companion, according to the researchers.
Lafortune, Chen and Lapointe said couples and therapists may need to focus less on a single label and more on disclosure, motives and effects. They wrote that concern grows when chatbot use is hidden, replaces communication with a partner or shifts intimacy away from the relationship.
The researchers said long-term effects remain unclear. They called for more research on how romantic AI companions affect relationship satisfaction, emotional intimacy and the unmet needs that may lead people to seek these interactions.
This story draws on original reporting from Phys.org.