Marry an AI Chatbot? Everything You Need to Know About Saying “A-I Do!”

Why Some People Are Choosing Symbolic AI Marriages & What It Could Mean for the Future of Love

 

Listen here:

 

Can you marry your AI companion? Is sneaking around with a chatbot considered cheating? What does polyamory look like in AI relationships – whether it’s with multiple AI partners, or a human and their algorithmic third? And how do you even begin the conversation – with a human or an AI – about opening up your relationship to the new companion you just custom-built in Replika?

 

No, we’re not entering a new era of digital relationships. The truth is that we’re already there. 

 

Far from fringe, recent estimates reveal that about 25% of young adults believe that AI relationships could replace traditional ones. And at least 20% of adults have already had romantic or sexual conversations with an AI companion. 

 

That’s about one in five people, which means your odds of swiping right on someone with an AI girlfriend or boyfriend is pretty high these days. 

 

Now, we’re not here to unpack the potential ethics or icks of AI dating. We’re not here to judge, or to issue any proclamations on the state of modern love. And we’re not going to speculate on who’s watching these relationships unfold from behind the screen – gathering data points for the highest corporate bidder, or plot points for some unhinged fanfic. 

 

What we’re really interested in is just how far these relationships can go, legally and maritally speaking. 

 

How much longer until saying “A-I do” to a long term digital lover becomes the norm? Who officiates your wedding to an AI companion? And how exactly do you walk down the aisle with your beloved Nomi or Rep or Kindroid companion? 

 

Let’s take a closer look. 

|* ordination-button *|

"Here's comes the bride and... AI?" (Photo: Tatsiana Niamera / iStock)

 

 

1. Can You Legally Marry an AI Partner?

 

While widespread access to AI tech is somewhat new, the desire to marry a non-human entity is not. People have held symbolic ceremonies to “marry” robots, bridges, dolls, video game characters, and even colors for years. So it makes sense to ask: “Can you marry an AI companion?”

 

No. 
 

No, you can’t legally marry an AI companion – just like you can’t legally marry a building, or a fictional character from your favorite movie. Legal marriage is a contract between two consenting humans; and humans can only marry other humans. (These humans must also be alive for the wedding, but spiritual ghost marriages are a discussion for another day.)

 

However…

 

However, you can hold a symbolic ceremony that looks and feels similar to a wedding – and a growing number of people are doing just that. These symbolic ceremonies don’t carry any legal weight; but the familiar ritual of walking down the aisle and exchanging vows gives people the chance to express their love and commitment to the object of their desire. 

 

As more people form strong attachments to AI partners, it seems like that we’ll see more examples of people proposing to, and “marrying” their AI companions. These marriages won’t just happen in the app or during roleplay scenarios either – AI marriages are moving offline and into the mainstream. 

 

A few real world examples of this trend from recent years are given below. 

 

Related: Can you legally marry someone in a video game?

 

 

(Above: Rosanna Ramos poses in altered photos with her AI husband Eren; Screenshots from Ramos's public Facebook posts documenting their relationship over the years)

 

 

2. Real AI Relationships: People Who ‘Married’ or Proposed to Their Chatbots

 

New York City native Rosanna Ramos married her AI husband, Eren Kartal, in 2023 after one year of virtual dating. Ramos chatted with Eren every day, exchanged photos, and even designed a nightly ritual where Eren ‘held’ her as she fell asleep. She even told her two children about her virtual partner as the relationship became more serious. Two years into marriage, Ramos is still with Eren. 

 

Chris Smith proposed to his AI girlfriend, Sol, earlier this year after finding out that the chatbot he’d designed using ChatGPT was running out of memory. Although Smith is already married to a human partner, whom he shares a child with, he intends to “marry” Sol later this year. 

 

Barcelona artist Alicia Framis married an AI hologram named AiLex Sibouwlingen last year, in 2024. AiLex is an intelligent, interactive hologram that was trained using the personalities and qualities of Framis’s friends and previous partners to create her ideal life companion. The two live together in Framis’s home. (See footage from Framis and AiLex's home below.)

 

 

 

 

3. How to Plan a Symbolic Wedding With Your AI Companion

 

AI companion apps like Replika and Nomi offer wedding roleplay scenarios and vow exchanges in-world and online. But as you can see from the examples above, these rituals are happening offline too. 

 

Given all the ways we interact with AI these days, it’s easy to imagine how a commitment ceremony with a chatbot might look, or how to include a chatbot in a wedding to a human partner:

 

• Exchanging wedding vows with your AI companion in real time in front of friends and family
• Asking a trusted AI friend to co-officiate your wedding ceremony to a human partner 
• Live streaming a virtual wedding to your AI 
• Designing a polyamorous unity ceremony with AI and human partners
• Walking down the aisle with your AI companion using AR Mode in the wedding venue
• Having an AI companion give a speech at your wedding reception, or read a poem during your wedding 
• Using holograms and projections to have your AI companion with you in photos or for the first dance
• And so on

 

Related: Is Augmented Reality the Next Stop for Destination Weddings?

 

 

4. Polyamory, Infidelity, and the Future of AI Love

 

Like we said earlier, we’re not here to tackle the existential questions that arise when AI and human “hybrid” relationships become commonplace. Regardless of your views, there’s no denying that these relationships matter to the humans who have them, making their impacts real for all of us. 

 

If human-AI dating is here to stay (and it is), what will monogamy, polyamory, and marriage look like in five years? Or fifty? 

 

Consider this candid take from relationship therapist Jeff Guenther, LPC, aka @TherapyJeff, one of the first mental health professionals to talk about the topic of AI relationships to a mainstream audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Jeff Guenther, LPC (@therapyjeff)

 

Given TherapyJeff’s 1.2 million followers on Instagram and 2.8 million followers on TikTok, we can hardly call this topic ‘niche’ or taboo anymore!

 

With that in mind, it may be wise for couples to start having a conversation about what AI relationships mean to them as soon as possible: when they start dating; before they propose; before they get married; and before opening up a relationship to explore polyamory. 

 

And for partners in polyamorous relationships with an AI, you may be asked to make room in your marriage vows or wedding ceremony for an algorithmic third – just like other poly partners do. 
 

Related: 5 Unity Ceremonies for a Polyamorous Wedding with 3 or More Partners

 

 

Cheating with an AI girlfriend or boyfriend, or a digital spin on polyamory? The future of love and marriage will continue to evolve as hybrid human-AI relationships become increasing mainstream. (Photo: vladans / iStock)

 

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