"Chat, Should I Leave Him?" Risks, Rewards, and Roles for AI in Relationship Advice

As more people turn to chatbots for socioemotional support-often termed psychosocial AI-the stakes of understanding these interactions grow. Psychosocial AI might foster healthier human-human relationships-and also might exacerbate loneliness, abuse, and self-harm. We provide an empirical account of one less-studied facet: seeking AI advice on sex, dating, and relationships with other people. We recruited 25 people who use AI for relationship advice to a questionnaire, collecting 90 prompts illustrating their practices. Interviews with 17 further explored how they navigate AI's limitations to achieve intimacy goals. Our findings detail (1) the roles that users imagine for AI in relationship advice; (2) how users navigate risks like sycophancy and overreliance to attain relational benefits; and (3) the folk theories users hold and the prompting tactics they employ to overcome AI's limitations. We close with recommendations for human-AI interaction, AI safety, and sociotechnical research, towards AI that supports healthier digital intimacies.

• Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI.