AI girlfriends are ruining an entire generation of men

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by Liberty Vittert, Opinion Contributor - 09/26/23 7:00 AM ET

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The rise of virtual artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriends is enabling the silent epidemic of loneliness in an entire generation of young men. It is also having severe consequences for America’s future.

How is something that seems so ridiculous — a virtual AI girlfriend — causing a future crisis among Americans? Well, with millions of users, apps have created virtual girlfriends that talk to you, love you, allow you to live out your erotic fantasies, and learn, through data, exactly what you like and what you don’t like, creating the “perfect” relationship.

These virtual girlfriends can even be based on real people. One influencer created an AI bot of herself named Caryn, then gained over  1,000 users (i.e. real boyfriends) in less than a week and a  waitlist  of more than 15,000 people.

An AI girlfriend might sound enticing. You get to connect with a super hot girl who listens to you and appreciates you, 24/7. Beyond choosing physical attributes, down to the size of her rear end, you can pick her personality. You prefer “hot, funny, and bold”? That’s what she will be. Or if “cute, shy, and modest” is more your cup of tea, she’s got you covered.

Yes, these are real attributes you can have your AI girlfriend embody. And to be clear, these aren’t cookie-cutter chatbot interactions. By definition, the AI learns from your reactions and is capable of giving you exactly what you want to hear or see, every single time. And they have come at just the right time to assuage the  silent epidemic  of loneliness that is hitting this generation of young men.

Let’s look at the  hard numbers . More than 60 percent of young men (ages 18-30) are single, compared to only 30 percent of women the same age. One in five men report not having a single close friend, a number that has quadrupled in the last 30 years. The amount of social engagement with friends dropped by 20 hours per month over the pandemic and is still decreasing.

These young men are lonely, and it is having real consequences. They are choosing AI girlfriends over real women, meaning they don’t have relationships with real women, don’t marry them and then don’t have and raise babies with them. America desperately needs people to have more babies, but all the signs are pointing toward fewer relationships, fewer marriages and fewer babies. There have been 600,000 fewer births in 2023 in the U.S. relative to 15 years ago. The number of children per woman  has decreased  by more than 50 percent in the last 60 years.

Put another way, we don’t have enough people to work, and therefore we won’t be able to pay our bills, not just to other countries, but to ourselves. We spent  more than $1.6 trillion  in 2021 on Medicare and Medicaid, with the number of Americans on Medicare expected  to increase  by 50 percent by 2030, to more than 80 million people. But over the same period, we  will have only  10 million more Americans joining the workforce.

And that is just health care. In 1940, there were  42 workers  per beneficiary of Social Security. Today, there are  only 2.8 workers  per beneficiary, and that number is getting smaller. We are going broke, and the young men who will play a huge role in determining our nation’s future are going there with AI girlfriends in their pockets.

While the concept of an AI girlfriend may seem like a joke, it really isn’t that funny. It is enabling a generation of lonely men to stay lonely and childless, which will have devastating effects on the U.S. economy in less than a decade.

Liberty Vittert is a professor of data science at Washington University in St. Louis and the resident on-air statistician for NewsNation, a sister company of The Hill.

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Opinion. >. Technology. by Liberty Vittert, Opinion Contributor - 09/26/23 7:00 AM ET. Facebook Share Twitter Tweet lang: en_US   ... More. Facebook Share. Twitter Tweet. ... More. Share. Twitter Twitter. Facebook Facebook. LinkedIn LinkedIn. Whatsapp Whatsapp. Email Email. The rise of virtual artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriends is enabling the silent epidemic of loneliness in an entire generation of young men. It is also having severe consequences for America’s future. How is something that seems so ridiculous — a virtual AI girlfriend — causing a future crisis among Americans? Well, with millions of users, apps have created virtual girlfriends that talk to you, love you, allow you to live out your erotic fantasies, and learn, through data, exactly what you like and what you don’t like, creating the “perfect” relationship. These virtual girlfriends can even be based on real people. One influencer created an AI bot of herself named Caryn, then gained over  1,000 users (i.e. real boyfriends) in less than a week and a  waitlist  of more than 15,000 people. An AI girlfriend might sound enticing. You get to connect with a super hot girl who listens to you and appreciates you, 24/7. Beyond choosing physical attributes, down to the size of her rear end, you can pick her personality. You prefer “hot, funny, and bold”? That’s what she will be. Or if “cute, shy, and modest” is more your cup of tea, she’s got you covered. Yes, these are real attributes you can have your AI girlfriend embody. And to be clear, these aren’t cookie-cutter chatbot interactions. By definition, the AI learns from your reactions and is capable of giving you exactly what you want to hear or see, every single time. And they have come at just the right time to assuage the  silent epidemic  of loneliness that is hitting this generation of young men. Let’s look at the  hard numbers . More than 60 percent of young men (ages 18-30) are single, compared to only 30 percent of women the same age. One in five men report not having a single close friend, a number that has quadrupled in the last 30 years. The amount of social engagement with friends dropped by 20 hours per month over the pandemic and is still decreasing. These young men are lonely, and it is having real consequences. They are choosing AI girlfriends over real women, meaning they don’t have relationships with real women, don’t marry them and then don’t have and raise babies with them. America desperately needs people to have more babies, but all the signs are pointing toward fewer relationships, fewer marriages and fewer babies. There have been 600,000 fewer births in 2023 in the U.S. relative to 15 years ago. The number of children per woman  has decreased  by more than 50 percent in the last 60 years. Put another way, we don’t have enough people to work, and therefore we won’t be able to pay our bills, not just to other countries, but to ourselves. We spent  more than $1.6 trillion  in 2021 on Medicare and Medicaid, with the number of Americans on Medicare expected  to increase  by 50 percent by 2030, to more than 80 million people. But over the same period, we  will have only  10 million more Americans joining the workforce. And that is just health care. In 1940, there were  42 workers  per beneficiary of Social Security. Today, there are  only 2.8 workers  per beneficiary, and that number is getting smaller. We are going broke, and the young men who will play a huge role in determining our nation’s future are going there with AI girlfriends in their pockets. While the concept of an AI girlfriend may seem like a joke, it really isn’t that funny. It is enabling a generation of lonely men to stay lonely and childless, which will have devastating effects on the U.S. economy in less than a decade. Liberty Vittert is a professor of data science at Washington University in St. Louis and the resident on-air statistician for NewsNation, a sister company of The Hill. Close. Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here. The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Opinion newsletter. Subscribe. Tags. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Facebook Share. Twitter Tweet. ... More. Share. Twitter Twitter. Facebook Facebook. LinkedIn LinkedIn. Whatsapp Whatsapp. Email Email. More Technology News. See All. Technology. Hollywood and UAW are the first waves in a looming tech labor tsunami. by Robert A. Manning, opinion contributor. 19 hours ago. Technology. / 19 hours ago. Technology. AI is coming for our kids — we need Congress to act. by John Pizzuro, opinion contributor. 2 days ago. Technology. / 2 days ago. Technology. Germany and Venezuela have been chosen for teams in the US-China space race. by Mark R. Whittington, opinion contributor. 3 days ago. Technology. / 3 days ago. Technology. Self-regulation is the answer to our AI quandaries. by Mark Penn, opinion contributor. 5 days ago. Technology. / 5 days ago. See All. Video/Hill.TV. See all Hill.TV. See all Video. Rising. Rising: September 26, 2023. by TheHill.com. 09/26/23 12:36 PM ET. Rising. / 16 hours ago. Rising. Rising: September 25, 2023. by TheHill.com. 09/25/23 11:52 AM ET. Rising. / 2 days ago. Rising. Rising: September 22, 2023. by TheHill.com. 09/22/23 11:19 AM ET. Rising. / 5 days ago. See all Hill.TV. See all Video. Top Stories. See All. Senate. Senate votes to advance short-term funding bill to avoid government shutdown. by Alexander Bolton. 10 hours ago. Senate. / 10 hours ago. Court Battles. Judge rules Trump committed fraud in building real estate empire. by Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld. 12 hours ago. Court Battles. / 12 hours ago. Administration. Biden takes it to Trump on Michigan picket line. by Alex Gangitano. 10 hours ago. Administration. / 10 hours ago. House. House GOP advances four spending bills after failed attempts. by Mychael Schnell. 8 hours ago. House. / 8 hours ago. See All. Most Popular. McCarthy gets small spending win, Senate advances shutdown solution: live ... Senate votes to advance short-term funding bill to avoid government shutdown. These 19 Senate Republicans voted against advancing short-term funding bill. Cassidy Hutchinson warns second Trump term wouldn’t have ‘guardrails’ Biden takes it to Trump on Michigan picket line. Judge rules Trump committed fraud in building real estate empire. House GOP advances four spending bills after failed attempts. Gaetz: ‘We will see’ if Democrats bail out our failed Speaker’ Eric Trump claims judge undervalued Mar-a-Lago in fraud ruling. Senate Democrats put McCarthy in shutdown squeeze. Trump legal cases tracker: What’s next. Hutchinson says she has ‘higher standards’ than to date Matt Gaetz. Trump-Milley feud escalates. Carville: Democrats need to ‘wake the f‑‑‑ up’ about Biden’s 2024 ... Gaetz asks for pay to be withheld during potential shutdown. Greene a ‘hard no’ on two spending bills after McCarthy flips on Ukraine ... Moderate Republicans plot last-ditch shutdown plan with Democrats. Load more.