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News.com.au reports that Body+Soul’s Sex Census 2026 found 17 per cent of more than 2,100 surveyed sexually active Australians said they had substituted human intimacy with AI bots. The outlet says almost one-third of respondents aged 14 to 29 described themselves as being in a relationship with a bot. It also reports that 31 per cent of daters used AI to optimise dating bios, while almost one-third used chatbots to draft replies or seek advice.
News.com.au reports that Body+Soul’s Sex Census 2026 surveyed more than 2,100 sexually active Australians and found that two in five respondents were open to replacing human intimacy with software, while 17 per cent said they had already done so. The outlet says respondents aged 14 to 29 led the reported trend, with almost one in three describing themselves as in a relationship with a bot.
The report also says AI is being used earlier in the dating process. News.com.au reports that 31 per cent of people dating had used AI to improve their bios and that almost one in three had used chatbots to write replies or advise them on what to say. No specific chatbot, provider, access requirement or price is identified.
Relationship therapist and sexologist Isiah McKimmie told News.com.au that AI’s constant availability and apparent empathy could reduce opportunities to practise emotional regulation, vulnerability and compromise. Professional matchmaker Lauren Hunter similarly warned that using AI for every dating message could produce a persona that does not reflect the user. These are expert opinions reported by the outlet, not independent study findings.
Ay leeral ci cosaan: news.com.au ↗
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The findings, if representative, suggest AI companionship and AI-assisted dating are moving beyond experimentation into intimate and socially consequential uses. The practical concern is not only whether people use chatbots for emotional support, but whether repeated reliance changes how they communicate, handle rejection, compromise or build offline relationships. However, News.com.au does not provide the survey instrument, sampling method, weighting, field dates or independent validation, so the reported percentages should not be treated as established population estimates.
AI’s role in relationships is a direct social-impact question because the technology can influence how people seek intimacy, represent themselves and respond to conflict. If the reported behavior is widespread, dating platforms, chatbot providers and policymakers may face questions about disclosure, age-appropriate design, emotional dependency and the handling of sensitive personal data.
The source does not establish that AI use caused isolation, harmed relationships or displaced human partners at the reported rate. It also does not explain whether respondents used dedicated companion systems or general-purpose chatbots, making it difficult to compare the behavior across products or assess its practical risks.
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Why can ethical evaluation not be reduced to one model score?
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Further reporting should establish how the survey defined an AI relationship, which services respondents used, and whether the results are representative. It should also test the experts’ concerns against independent research on loneliness, dependency, privacy and emotional wellbeing.
The most important verification gap is methodological. News.com.au does not publish the survey questionnaire, recruitment method, demographic breakdown, margin of error or weighting information in the supplied report. Those details are needed to assess whether the percentages describe Australians generally or a self-selected audience.
The outlet reports that McKimmie and Hunter urged readers to invest in face-to-face friendships and community. Future evidence should examine whether AI companionship supplements existing relationships or replaces them, and should distinguish casual assistance with dating messages from sustained emotional reliance.