People are willing to try just about anything to feel close to someone again. And in today’s ever-freakier world, that “someone” doesn’t even have to be human.

A new survey from ZipHealth, which looked at responses from over 1,000 people across the U.S. and Canada, suggests we’ve already crossed a line most of us would’ve laughed at five years ago. About 23 percent of respondents said they’d consider having sex with a humanoid robot. Another 19 percent said they’ve already had some sort of romantic or sexual interaction with AI chatbots. Half of them kept it from their partner. And when you have secrecy, you have problems. 

We’ve spent the past decade turning our phones into emotional support systems. Texting instead of calling. Venting in notes apps. Asking AI for advice because we feel awkward bringing it up to a friend. So it’s not shocking that 55 percent of people in the survey said talking to AI feels easier than talking to a real person. Easier, though, usually means safer. There’s no fear of judgment or rejection, or god forbid, having to repeat yourself. 

But “easier” always comes with tradeoffs.

AI doesn’t have a soul. It lacks true intimacy. It will never push back, it never wants alone time, and its “personality” is what you (and the developers) have designed it to be. Designing the “perfect person” sounds amazing to some people, but you’ve got to remember that the individuality of opinions and experiences is what makes real intimacy real. You’ll never grow and actually build something with something that only ever agrees with you. 

Naturally, there’s a generational split. Around 26 percent of Gen Z respondents said they’ve already had romantic or sexual interactions with AI, compared to 19 percent of millennials. At the same time, a huge majority still considers falling for AI to be cheating. So people are doing it, hiding it, and judging it all at once. Gotta love it. 

It also brings up the growing concern of loneliness. Among women open to AI relationships, 29 percent said loneliness was a reason. That’s really quite a sad bigger picture. That’s a huge number of people looking for solutions to very real human problems. They just want someone to talk to who responds and doesn’t ghost them or have better things to do. If that doesn’t put a pit in your stomach about the future of humanity, it should. 

Still, most people don’t seem convinced this ends well. Roughly three-quarters of respondents said AI intimacy could make real relationships worse. It’s an understandable fear of our future. If your easiest connection lives in your phone, your real-life one has to compete with something literally designed to keep you hooked.

It’s a new, rapidly changing technology, but the human impulse behind it is a tale as old as time. People want undivided attention, reassurance and empathy, and to feel like someone just gets them. AI just happens to be getting better at all of those. 

The question isn’t whether people will keep doing this. They will. It’s whether we’re okay as a culture with redefining intimacy around something that can’t actually feel anything back.