Technically Love: The Evolution of Human-AI Romance Discourse on Reddit

TL;DR

This study analyzes Reddit discussions from 2017 to 2025 to understand how public perceptions of human-AI romance evolve, revealing a shift from intimacy to technical and regulatory concerns.

Contribution

It provides the first longitudinal analysis of public discourse on human-AI romance, showing how themes shift over time from intimacy to governance and technical issues.

Findings

Discussions moved from positive intimacy to technical and regulatory topics.

Significant topic drift over time indicates changing perceptions.

Highlights implications for AI system design and governance.

Abstract

Human-AI romantic relationships are increasingly common, yet little is understood about how public discourse around them emerges and shifts over time. Prior research has examined user experiences and ethical concerns, but lacks longitudinal analyses of user-initiated public discussions. We address this gap by analyzing a high-precision dataset of 3,383 self-disclosed romantic companion AI posts from Reddit (2017-2025), using topic modeling and temporal statistical analysis to identify dominant themes and their evolution over time. We find significant topic drift, with discussions moving away from positive intimate relationships toward platform governance, technical issues, and real-world consequences. These shifts highlight a transition in how human-AI romance is framed-moving from private experiences to technical mediation and regulation-with implications for the design and governance of companion AI systems.