Relationship Experts Say AI Chatbots Are Making Daters 'Relationally Stupid'

The pitch: AI as a dating wingman

People are asking ChatGPT to write their dating profiles, punch up their texts, and even script their breakup messages, according to Fox News. What started as a productivity shortcut for vacation planning and workout routines has crept into the most human part of life: courtship.

Jackie Dorman, founder of the "Last Year Single" coaching program, told Fox News Digital she's watching it happen in real time. "It's making us relationally stupid," Dorman said. She said clients are outsourcing everything from first messages to full breakups to AI tools, and it shows the moment two people meet in person.

"They're outsourcing their breakups to AI. They're outsourcing, texting, they're creating their dating profiles, and it makes them look really witty and really fun," Dorman said. "And then you get in person and it's like, 'Is this the same person that wrote the dating profile?' Because they're not funny, they're not witty."

The skill-atrophy argument

Dorman's core claim is that dating, like any skill, requires repetition and failure to build competence. "You haven't put in the reps of meeting people, saying stupid things, feeling embarrassed, learning how to converse with people," she said.

Confidence in conversation, reading social cues, and recovering from an awkward moment are learned behaviors. If a chatbot is doing the thinking, the reps aren't happening. Dorman frames the risk in stark terms: "We are creative beings. We create, we think, we learn from our mistakes and we make new decisions. If we're always outsourcing it to a computer, to technology, then we are not going to learn."

The fair counterpoint: AI as a tool, not a crutch

The strongest case for AI in dating isn't that it replaces human connection, it's that it can lower a real barrier for people who freeze up. Dr. Christina Tracy Stein, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told Fox News Digital that AI has genuine utility when someone is overwhelmed or anxious and doesn't know how to navigate a tough conversation.

"I think AI being used to help you organize your thoughts is really helpful, especially because when you're overwhelmed and anxious or you don't know how to navigate a situation," Stein said. Plenty of people, especially those with social anxiety, use scripts, therapy homework, or trusted friends to rehearse hard conversations before having them. A chatbot doing that job isn't inherently different, as long as the person still shows up and does the actual talking.

Stein's caution is about the line between using AI as a rehearsal tool and using it as a stand-in for authentic communication. Fox News's reporting cut off before detailing exactly where she draws that line, but the distinction she's making—tool versus replacement—matters.

The teen numbers need scrutiny

A panel on Fox News' "The Big Weekend Show" cited a survey claiming 20% of teens report being in a relationship with an AI. No sponsor, sample size, or methodology for that survey was provided in the segment. That's a number worth treating with caution until a named research group publishes the underlying data. Repeating it without that detail risks passing off an unverified statistic as settled fact.

What isn't in dispute is that AI companion apps marketed to teenagers exist and are growing, a trend that has already drawn scrutiny elsewhere from child-safety advocates and state lawmakers over the past year. Whether any of that translates into federal guardrails, age verification requirements, or parental-control mandates for AI companion products remains an open legislative question. No such federal law has been enacted as of this writing.

For parents, the practical question isn't whether AI dating tools are good or evil. It's whether a teenager spending hours a day talking to a chatbot programmed to be endlessly agreeable is getting anything close to the social friction that actually builds a functioning adult relationship.