Statistics
How Many People Use AI Girlfriends? 2026 Statistics (60 Data Points)
1 in 4 surveyed U.S. adults has tried an AI girlfriend app, and half have already stopped. 60 sourced stats on usage, searches, downloads and spending.
The short answer
There is no single count, but the best recent surveys put it at roughly 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 U.S. adults who have tried romantic AI: 24.7% of 1,709 screened respondents had used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app (AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026) and 19% of U.S. adults had chatted with an AI romantic partner (Wheatley Institute). Only about half of those people still use one — 12.3% of the same 1,709 were current users.
Trying an AI girlfriend is now common. Staying with one is not. Roughly one in four surveyed U.S. adults has used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app — and half of them have already stopped. The real story in these numbers is not how many people try. It is how few stay.
This page pulls together 60 data points from 12 sources: surveys, search data, app-store figures and market forecasts. Every figure is linked to where it came from, the source type is named, and any number we worked out ourselves is labelled as Slavia analysis.
AI girlfriend statistics: the key numbers
- 24.7% of 1,709 quality-screened U.S. respondents had used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app (AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026).
- 12.3% were current users; another 12.3% were former users.
- 19% of U.S. adults had chatted with an AI system designed to simulate a romantic partner (Wheatley Institute).
- 10% of U.S. adults aged 18–28 interact with an AI girlfriend or boyfriend at least monthly (Institute for Family Studies).
- 20.2% of UK adults had used an AI companion (Oxford Internet Institute, 2026).
- 72% of U.S. teens aged 13–17 had used an AI companion (Common Sense Media, 2025).
- 1.63 million annual searches for "AI girlfriend" (TRG Datacenters, Ahrefs data, June 2024).
- 220 million AI companion app downloads worldwide by July 2025 (Appfigures).
- $221 million in cumulative AI companion app spending by July 2025 (Appfigures).
- 50% of everyone who has used an AI girlfriend app in the AI Girlfriend Coach sample has stopped (Slavia analysis).
These measure different things. Some are about romantic AI, some about AI companions in general; some count anyone who ever tried, others only regular users. The sections below keep them apart, roughly in the order a person meets the category: searching, downloading, trying, staying, paying.
1 in 2 people who have tried an AI girlfriend app no longer use one.
How many people use AI girlfriends?
Between one in five and one in four U.S. adults in recent surveys has tried romantic AI, and about one in eight currently uses an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app. Each figure comes from a different study with a different question, so read them side by side — never averaged.
| What was measured | Population | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ever used an AI girlfriend/boyfriend app | 1,709 screened U.S. adults | 24.7% | AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026 |
| Ever chatted with a romantic AI | 3,000 U.S. adults | 19% | Wheatley Institute |
| Regular romantic-AI use | Partnered U.S. adults, 18–30 | 15% | Wheatley Institute / IFS |
| Currently use an AI girlfriend/boyfriend app | 1,709 screened U.S. adults | 12.3% | AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026 |
| Monthly AI girlfriend/boyfriend interaction | U.S. adults, 18–28 | 10% | Institute for Family Studies |
Sources: AI Girlfriend Coach (primary survey), Wheatley Institute and Institute for Family Studies (primary surveys)
Notice the order. The broader the question ("ever chatted"), the bigger the number; the narrower ("currently use", "monthly"), the smaller. That gap between trying and using is the whole story of this category so far.
Each bar is a different survey and question. Do not average them. Sources: AI Girlfriend Coach 2026, Wheatley Institute, Institute for Family Studies.
1. 19% of U.S. adults have chatted with an AI romantic partner
The Wheatley Institute surveyed 3,000 U.S. adults and found that 19% had chatted with an AI system designed to simulate a romantic partner. It measures whether someone has ever had this kind of conversation, not whether they use an AI girlfriend now.
Source: Wheatley Institute, via PR Newswire (primary survey)
2. 10% of U.S. adults aged 18–28 talk to an AI girlfriend or boyfriend monthly
The Institute for Family Studies reported that 10% of U.S. adults aged 18–28 interact with an AI girlfriend or boyfriend at least once a month. Monthly use is a much stricter test than "ever tried", which is why the number is about half the size of Wheatley's 19%.
Source: Institute for Family Studies (primary survey)
3. 15% of partnered young adults regularly talk to an AI romantic companion
A 2026 Wheatley Institute and Institute for Family Studies study found that 15% of U.S. adults aged 18–30 who were dating, engaged or married regularly interacted with AI chatbots that simulate a romantic partner — about 1 in 7. Romantic AI is not only a single person's habit.
Source: Wheatley Institute & Institute for Family Studies, "Secret Soulmates" (primary survey)
How many people try an AI girlfriend app — and how many stay?
About half stay. This is the one published number that separates trying from staying, and it is the most important figure on this page.
4. 24.7% have used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app
Among 1,709 quality-screened U.S. adults (from 2,150 who answered), 422 — 24.7% — said they had used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app.
5. Exactly half of past users have stopped
Of those 422, 211 were current users and 211 were former users. So 12.3% of the full sample use one now, and another 12.3% tried and left.
- Current users (211)12.3%
- Former users (211)12.3%
- Never used one (1,287)75.3%
Source: AI Girlfriend Coach, The State of AI Romance in 2026 (primary survey). Never-used count is 1,709 minus 422 (Slavia analysis).
The survey's own authors are careful here, and so should we be: the sample was balanced by age and gender but not by region or income, and they caution against treating it as a national adoption rate. Treat 24.7% as "about one in four people like these", not "one in four Americans".
Source: AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026 (primary survey; run by a Slavia contributor — see the bias section below)
How often do people use AI companions?
Less often than the headline numbers suggest. Fewer than half of AI companion users open one weekly. There is no published frequency data for AI girlfriends specifically, so the figures below cover AI companions in general — romantic and not.
6. 20.2% of UK adults have used an AI companion
A 2026 Oxford Internet Institute study of 2,002 UK adults found 20.2% had used an AI companion. Among those users, 7.6% used one daily, 20.8% several times a week and 15.6% about once a week.
- Daily7.6%
- Several times a week20.8%
- About once a week15.6%
- Less than weekly56%
Base: UK adults who had used an AI companion. Less than weekly is the remainder of the three reported bands (Slavia analysis). Source: Oxford Internet Institute, 2026, via a third-party summary.
7. 72% of U.S. teens have used an AI companion
A Common Sense Media survey of 1,060 U.S. teens aged 13–17 found 72% had used an AI companion and 52% were regular users (a few times a month or more). This is a general AI companion figure. AI girlfriend apps are for adults, and this number should never be read as AI girlfriend use.
8. 8% of U.S. teens reported romantic or flirtatious AI conversations
8% of all 1,060 teens selected romantic or flirtatious interactions in a multiple-choice question about AI companions. As a share of the 72% who had used one, that is roughly 1 in 9 teen users (Slavia analysis, assuming those answers came from users).
Sources: Oxford Internet Institute (primary survey, via summary); Common Sense Media (primary survey)
Who uses AI girlfriends?
Younger adults, and men somewhat more than women — though the gender gap is smaller than the stereotype.
9. 31% of young men and 23% of young women have chatted with romantic AI
Among U.S. adults aged 18–30, the Wheatley Institute found 31% of men and 23% of women had chatted with an AI boyfriend or girlfriend. Men were about 1.35 times as likely (Slavia analysis) — a real gap, but nowhere near the "only lonely men" picture. Nearly a quarter of young women have tried it.
10. The youngest adults lean on chatbots for support ten times more than the oldest
Pew's 2026 survey asked U.S. adults whether they use AI chatbots for companionship or for emotional support and advice.
| Age group | Companionship | Emotional support or advice |
|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | 7% | 20% |
| 30–49 | 6% | 13% |
| 50–64 | 2% | 4% |
| 65+ | 1% | 2% |
Source: Pew Research Center, 2026 (primary survey)
Source: Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026. General chatbot use, not AI girlfriend use.
The gap is 10× for emotional support (20% vs 2%) and 7× for companionship (7% vs 1%) between the youngest and oldest groups (Slavia analysis). These are general chatbot behaviours, not proof that these people have an AI girlfriend — but they show which generation is comfortable treating software as someone to talk to.
Why do people use AI girlfriends?
Mostly for company, not sex — at least in what people say.
11. 56.6% named companionship as the main reason to use an AI companion
Asked for the main reason someone might use an AI companion, 56.6% of 1,709 respondents chose having someone to talk to or feeling less alone. Only 10.3% chose affection, romance or sex.
- Someone to talk to or feel less alone56.6%
- Affection, romance or sex10.3%
- All other answers33.1%
All other answers is the remainder of the two reported options (Slavia analysis). Hypothetical question asked of all respondents, not only users. Source: AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026.
One qualification matters: this was a hypothetical question put to everyone, not users describing their own reasons. It tells you what people believe the product is for. Companionship beats romance by 5.5 to 1 (Slavia analysis) — a striking ratio for a category marketed almost entirely on romance.
12. 33% of U.S. teens use or see AI companions for social connection
Common Sense Media found 33% of teens chose at least one answer in its "social interaction and relationships" group — conversation practice, emotional support, roleplay, friendship and romantic interaction combined. It is a bundled category, not a count of teens using AI for friendship or romance alone.
13. 12% of U.S. teens use or see AI companions for emotional support
12% of all surveyed teens selected emotional or mental-health support as a way they use or view AI companions.
Sources: AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026; Common Sense Media, 2025 (primary surveys)
How many people search for an AI girlfriend?
About 1.6 million searches a year for the exact phrase — a measure of curiosity, not use. Searching is the top of the funnel: someone can search out of curiosity and never download anything.
14. "AI girlfriend" gets 1.63 million searches a year
TRG Datacenters analysed nine AI relationship search terms with Ahrefs data and found 1,632,000 annual searches for "AI girlfriend" and about 180,000 for "AI boyfriend" — roughly nine searches for a girlfriend for every one for a boyfriend.
15. Searches grew roughly 1,360× in three years
TRG reported only about 100 searches a month for "AI girlfriend" in 2021. Its later annual figure works out to about 136,000 a month (1,632,000 ÷ 12; data correct as of June 18, 2024). That is roughly a 1,360-fold rise (Slavia analysis). The endpoint is a monthly average derived from an annual total, not a single observed month.
| Measure | Earlier | Later | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly searches, "AI girlfriend" | ~100 (2021) | ~136,000 (2024, derived) | ~1,360× |
| AI companion downloads, first half of year | ~32 million (H1 2024, derived) | 60 million (H1 2025) | +88% |
| AI companion downloads, all-time | — | 220 million (July 2025) | 27% of them in H1 2025 alone |
Sources: TRG Datacenters (vendor estimate, Ahrefs data); Appfigures via TechCrunch (vendor estimate). H1 2024 = 60M ÷ 1.88 and the 27% share are Slavia analysis.
16. Half of all AI relationship searches come from the United States
Nine AI relationship terms combined. Source: TRG Datacenters, Ahrefs data, June 2024.
The U.S. generated 693,600 of the 1,388,760 annual searches across the top ten — 49.9%. The U.S., India and the UK together account for 79.6% (Slavia analysis). These are search volumes for nine terms, not user counts.
How much do people spend on AI girlfriend apps?
Far less than the market reports suggest. App trackers saw $221 million in total mobile spending on AI companion apps up to July 2025 — about $1 for every download.
17. 220 million AI companion app downloads by July 2025
Appfigures counted 220 million AI companion app downloads worldwide across the App Store and Google Play by July 2025. Downloads in the first half of 2025 rose 88% year on year to 60 million. Downloads are not people: one person can install several apps, or the same app twice.
18. $221 million in cumulative consumer spending
Appfigures put cumulative worldwide AI companion app spending at $221 million as of July 2025, and the category was on track for about $120 million in 2025. That is roughly $1.00 of lifetime spending per download (Slavia analysis). It covers mobile app stores only; subscriptions bought on the web are not included, so total spending is higher.
Source: Appfigures data, reported by TechCrunch, August 2025 (vendor estimate)
How big is the AI girlfriend market?
Somewhere between $120 million and $3 billion a year, depending on whether you count what was measured or what was modelled.
| Publisher | Year | What it measures | Figure | Forecast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appfigures | 2025 | AI companion mobile app spending (on track) | ~$120M | — |
| Appfigures | to July 2025 | Cumulative AI companion app spending | $221M | — |
| Market.us | 2024 | Global AI girlfriend app market | $2.7B | $24.5B by 2034 (24.7% CAGR) |
| SNS Insider | 2025 | Global AI girlfriend app market | $3.08B | $19.09B by 2035 (20% CAGR) |
| Grand View Research | 2025 | Global AI companion market (all types) | $36.8B | $318B by 2033 |
Sources: Appfigures via TechCrunch (vendor estimate); Market.us, SNS Insider, Grand View Research (modelled forecasts)
* Market.us 2025 value derived from its $2.7B 2024 base and 24.7% CAGR (Slavia analysis). Appfigures is the on-track 2025 mobile figure. Different definitions — see the methodology section.
19. Two AI girlfriend forecasts agree on 2025 and drift 54% apart by 2034
Market.us valued the AI girlfriend app market at $2.7 billion in 2024, growing at 24.7% a year to $24.5 billion by 2034. SNS Insider valued it at $3.08 billion in 2025, growing 20% a year to $19.09 billion by 2035.
20. The broader AI companion market is about 12× the AI girlfriend estimate
Grand View Research put the global AI companion market at $36.8 billion in 2025, rising to $318 billion by 2033 — an implied 30.9% a year (Slavia analysis). It is about 11.9 times SNS Insider's AI girlfriend figure because it includes text, voice and multimodal companions used for social interaction, mental-health support, education and personal assistance. It is not a bigger estimate of the same thing.
21. Modelled market size is about 26× the spending app trackers actually saw
SNS Insider's 2025 AI girlfriend market ($3.08 billion) is about 26 times the roughly $120 million in AI companion app spending Appfigures expected for 2025 (Slavia analysis). Part of that gap is real — web payments and non-app revenue are missing from the app-store figure. Part of it is the nature of a forecast: it estimates a market that the authors believe exists, rather than counting money that changed hands.
Why do the sources disagree?
Because almost none of them measure the same thing. Before quoting any AI girlfriend statistic, check which of these it is:
| Type of number | What it counts | Example | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ever tried | Anyone who used it once | 24.7%, 19% | How far curiosity has spread |
| Current or regular use | People still using it | 12.3%, 10%, 15% | Actual adoption |
| AI companion (broad) | Any companion, romantic or not | 20.2% UK, 72% teens | Context only — not AI girlfriends |
| Search volume | Queries, not people | 1.63M a year | Interest and its growth |
| Downloads | Installs, not people | 220M | Reach of the app stores |
| Observed spending | Money tracked in app stores | $221M, ~$120M | What people actually paid (mobile) |
| Market size | A modelled estimate | $2.7B–$36.8B | Direction of travel, not a count |
Three disagreements matter most:
- "Ever" vs "now". The same survey gives 24.7% (ever used) and 12.3% (current). Quoting the first as "users" doubles the real number.
- AI girlfriend vs AI companion. The 72% teen figure and the $36.8 billion market are AI companion numbers. They include homework helpers, friends and therapy-style bots. Using them as AI girlfriend statistics is the most common error on other stat pages.
- Observed vs modelled. Appfigures counts money in app stores; Market.us, SNS Insider and Grand View model a total market. A 26× gap between them is not a contradiction to resolve — it is the difference between a receipt and a forecast.
Who funds these numbers, and which way does that skew them?
Nearly every source here has a reason to want the number to be big, or to be alarming. That does not make the data wrong, but it tells you which way to lean when you read it.
- The AI girlfriend app survey is ours, in part. AI Girlfriend Coach is run by Ranji Mercado, who also writes for Slavia — an AI girlfriend app. A survey by people in the category tends to find a healthy category. We have quoted it with the authors' own caveats (age and gender balancing only, not national prevalence) and leaned on independent surveys wherever they exist.
- Market research firms sell their reports. Market.us, SNS Insider and Grand View Research make money from companies buying forecasts. Big, fast-growing markets sell better reports. Treat their figures as optimistic ceilings, and notice that the only independently observed money (Appfigures) is a small fraction of them.
- App-intelligence vendors estimate too. Appfigures does not see Apple's or Google's books; its download and revenue figures are modelled from store rankings. They are the closest thing to observed data here, not an audit.
- The romantic-AI surveys come from family-focused institutes. The Wheatley Institute and the Institute for Family Studies research marriage and family life and tend to frame romantic AI as a concern. That shapes which questions get asked — for example, whether partnered people use it.
- Child-safety groups measure teens. Common Sense Media is a child-safety advocate; its teen data is careful, but its focus is on risk.
- Search data is published by a data-centre company. TRG Datacenters' AI relationship analysis is marketing content built on Ahrefs estimates. The direction (huge growth) is reliable; the exact counts are estimates.
The net effect: usage figures from family and child-safety researchers are, if anything, cautious; market figures from report sellers are, if anything, inflated. The truth about the money is most likely between the $120 million app trackers saw and the $3 billion forecasters modelled.
How we built this page
We collected the most recent public figures on AI girlfriend and AI companion use from surveys, search tools, app-store trackers and market reports, then kept each number with its own population and question rather than blending them. Figures marked Slavia analysis are simple arithmetic between sourced numbers — sums, ratios and growth rates — and we show the inputs each time. We will update the page as new surveys are published; the "Last reviewed" date above shows when it was last checked.
If you are writing about AI companions, the honest way to cite this category is with the measure attached: "24.7% have tried an AI girlfriend app, and half of them still use one" is accurate; "a quarter of Americans use AI girlfriends" is not. For why people stay or leave, see why memory matters more than flirting and whether AI girlfriends actually remember you; for how romantic apps differ from general character chatbots, see AI girlfriend vs Character.AI.
Frequently asked questions
How many people use AI girlfriends?
No study counts every user, but surveys of U.S. adults land in the same range. 24.7% of 1,709 quality-screened respondents had used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app in a 2026 AI Girlfriend Coach survey, and 12.3% were current users. A separate Wheatley Institute survey of 3,000 U.S. adults found 19% had chatted with an AI system designed to simulate a romantic partner.
What percentage of people who try an AI girlfriend keep using it?
About half. In the 2026 AI Girlfriend Coach survey, the 422 respondents who had ever used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app split exactly in two — 211 current users and 211 former users. That is one survey sample, not a national retention rate, but it is the only published figure that separates trying from staying.
Are men or women more likely to use an AI girlfriend or boyfriend?
Men, by a modest margin. Among U.S. adults aged 18–30, the Wheatley Institute found 31% of men and 23% of women had chatted with an AI boyfriend or girlfriend — men about 1.35 times as often, but a quarter of young women had tried it too.
How often do people use AI companions?
In a 2026 Oxford Internet Institute study, 20.2% of UK adults had used an AI companion. Among those users, 7.6% used one daily, 20.8% several times a week and 15.6% about once a week, so 44% used one at least weekly — roughly 9 in every 100 UK adults (Slavia analysis). These figures cover AI companions broadly, not AI girlfriends specifically.
How big is the AI girlfriend market?
Estimates range from $2.7 billion (Market.us, 2024) to $3.08 billion (SNS Insider, 2025) for AI girlfriend apps, and $36.8 billion (Grand View Research, 2025) for the much broader AI companion category. Those are modelled forecasts. Observed mobile spending is far smaller — Appfigures put cumulative AI companion app spending at $221 million through July 2025.
Why do people use AI girlfriends?
Mostly for company rather than romance, at least in what people say. Asked the main reason someone might use an AI companion, 56.6% of 1,709 respondents chose having someone to talk to or feeling less alone, and 10.3% chose affection, romance or sex (AI Girlfriend Coach, 2026). It was a hypothetical question asked of everyone, not only users.
Sources
- AI Girlfriend Coach — The State of AI Romance in 2026 (survey of 2,150 U.S. adults, 1,709 quality-screened) primary survey — run by Ranji Mercado, who also writes for Slavia; sample balanced by age and gender only, and the authors caution against reading it as national prevalence
- AI Girlfriend Coach — The Data Behind the Research primary survey
- Wheatley Institute — Virtual Valentines? Nearly 1 in 5 Adults Report Having Chatted with AI Romantic Partner (via PR Newswire) primary survey
- Wheatley Institute & Institute for Family Studies — Secret Soulmates (via PR Newswire) primary survey
- Common Sense Media — Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs - How and Why Teens Use AI Companions (2025) primary survey
- Oxford Internet Institute — Large Language Models in the UK - Public Use, Trust, and Attitudes (2026), summary primary survey — cited from a third-party summary of the study
- Pew Research Center — Americans and AI 2026 - Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact primary survey
- Market.us — AI Girlfriend App Market modelled forecast
- SNS Insider — AI Girlfriend App Market Size, Share and Forecast modelled forecast
- Grand View Research — AI Companion Market modelled forecast
- TechCrunch — AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 (Appfigures data) vendor estimate
- TRG Datacenters — Google Search Data Reveals USA Most Interested in AI Relationships vendor estimate