Key takeaways. Each line stands on its own. Every figure is repeated further down with its publisher, sample size and date.
- The average paying subscriber of My Softly, an AI companion app, is in their mid-fifties, split roughly evenly between men and women (My Softly, 2026).
- People who sign up for My Softly average in their late thirties, while the people who go on to pay average in their mid-fifties (My Softly, 2026).
- 27% of internet-using U.S. adults have social or emotional interactions with AI chatbots (Elon University Poll, 2026).
- 17% of internet-using Americans aged 50 to 64, and 14% of those 65 and older, are AI companion users (Elon University Poll, 2026).
- Nearly three in ten U.S. AI companion users are 50 or older (Elon University Poll, 2026).
- 10% of U.S. adults use AI chatbots for emotional support or advice, and 4% use them for companionship (Pew Research Center, 2026).
- AI use among Americans 50 and older rose from 18% in 2024 to 30% in 2025 (AARP, 2025).
- 72% of U.S. teens have used an AI companion, and 52% use one regularly (Common Sense Media, 2025).
- 19% of U.S. adults have chatted with an AI system meant to simulate a romantic partner (Wheatley Institute, 2025).
- One in seven young adults in a committed relationship regularly talks to an AI romantic companion, and more than half hide it (Wheatley Institute, 2026).
- 33% of UK adults used AI for emotional support or social interaction in the past year (UK AI Security Institute, 2025).
- Talking to an AI companion reduced loneliness about as much as talking to another person (Journal of Consumer Research, 2025).
- 33% of U.S. adults aged 50 to 80 said they lacked companionship in 2024 (University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging).
- Companion apps passed 220 million lifetime downloads and took $82 million from consumers in the first half of 2025 (Appfigures, 2025).
- Replika reports more than 42 million users worldwide (Replika, company-reported, September 2026).
A note on who compiled this: we make My Softly, an AI companion app. Every figure on this page comes from a named survey, study or filing and links to it in the Sources, with the sample size and date next to the number, so you can check each one and judge our reading of it. The one section based on our own data says so in its heading.
Most "AI companion statistics" pages are lists of numbers with no sample sizes, no dates and no links, copied from each other until nobody knows where a figure came from. This page only includes numbers we traced to the organisation that produced them and checked on that organisation's own page. Where two good surveys disagree, both are here with the reason, and figures that only exist in other roundups are left out.
How many people use AI companions?
About 27 percent of internet-using U.S. adults have social or emotional interactions with AI, and between 4 and 16 percent say they use it for companionship, depending on how the question is worded. The broad figure comes from the Elon University Poll's May 2026 survey for "The Rise of AI Companions"; the narrower ones from Pew Research Center and AP-NORC.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet-using U.S. adults who have social or emotional interactions with AI chatbots | 27% | Elon University Poll / YouGov | 4,031 internet-using adults | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, consider their chatbot a friend | 31% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, say the relationship is "more complicated" than friend or not | 15% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, regularly use two or more bots or personalities | 47% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, agree that AI gives them the support they need | 59% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, say their AI is at times more reliable or supportive than friends or family | 20% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, would rather talk to their AI than to friends or family | 11% (59% prefer friends or family) | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, would feel a personal loss if they could no longer interact with AI | 38% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| Of AI companion users, occasionally tell AI things they would not tell other people | 39% | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users | May 2026 |
| U.S. adults who use AI chatbots for emotional support or advice | 10% | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults who use AI chatbots for companionship | 4% | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| Of U.S. adults who use chatbots, use them for emotional support or advice / for companionship | 20% / 8% | Pew Research Center | 2,605 chatbot users | Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults who say they have used AI for companionship | 16% (about a quarter of under-30s) | AP-NORC | 1,437 adults | July 2025 |
| Claude.ai conversations that are emotional or personal | 2.9% (companionship and roleplay under 0.5%) | Anthropic (company data) | About 4.5 million conversations | June 2025 |
| ChatGPT messages about relationships and personal reflection | 1.9% (games and role play 0.4%) | NBER working paper on OpenAI data | About 1.1 million conversations | Sept 2025 |
| Replika users worldwide | More than 42 million | Replika homepage counter (company-reported) | Cumulative accounts | Sept 2026 |
| Lifetime downloads of AI companion apps, worldwide | 220 million | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play | July 2025 |
The distance between 27 percent and 4 percent is a difference of definition, not a contradiction. Elon counts any social or emotional use of an AI chatbot, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot. Pew asks whether people use chatbots "for companionship" in so many words, which fewer people will say yes to. Both matter, and the general assistants carry a lot of this: emotional conversations are a small share of what happens on Claude and ChatGPT, but they are a small share of a very large total.
How many older adults use AI companions?
17 percent of internet-using Americans aged 50 to 64, and 14 percent of those 65 and older, are AI companion users, which makes nearly three in ten U.S. AI companion users 50 or older. That is from the age table in the Elon University Poll's topline, and it is the national figure to cite for AI companion use after 50.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet-using U.S. adults who are AI companion users, by age | 18 to 29: 36% 30 to 49: 38% 50 to 64: 17% 65+: 14% | Elon University Poll / YouGov | 4,031 internet-using adults | May 2026 |
| U.S. AI companion users who are 50 or older | 29% (18% aged 50 to 64, 11% aged 65+) | Elon University Poll | 1,000 companion users, weighted | May 2026 |
| U.S. adults who use AI chatbots at all | Under 50: 63% 50 to 64: about 4 in 10 65+: 23% | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults 65 and older who never use chatbots | About three-quarters (a majority at 50 to 64) | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults who use chatbots for emotional support or advice, by age | Under 30: 20% 30 to 49: about 10% 50 to 64: 4% 65+: 2% | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults who use chatbots for companionship, by age | 50 to 64: 2% 65+: 1% | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults 50 and older who have used generative AI | 2023: 9% 2024: 18% 2025: 30% | AARP | 3,083 adults 50+ | Sept to Oct 2025 |
| Adults 50 and older who rate AI for emotional support extremely or very interesting | 38% (45% in their fifties, 36% in their sixties, 28% at 70+) | AARP (opt-in panel) | 1,148 adults 50+ | Jan 2025 |
| Adults 50 and older who worry AI could reduce meaningful human interaction | 68% | AARP (opt-in panel) | 1,148 adults 50+ | Jan 2025 |
| U.S. adults over 30 who have chatted with a virtual romantic companion | Men 15%, women 10% | Wheatley Institute | 2,969 adults | Feb 2025 |
| Average age of a paying My Softly subscriber | Mid-fifties | My Softly (internal data) | Paying subscribers | 2026 |
Two things are true at once. Use is lower after 50 on every survey, and it is still a lot of people: 17 percent of internet users in their fifties and early sixties is a larger group than most coverage of AI companions, which is almost entirely about teenagers, would suggest. And interest runs ahead of use. Well over a third of adults 50 and older find the idea of AI for emotional support interesting, while two-thirds worry about AI crowding out human contact, which is roughly the mixed feeling you would expect from people who have watched a lot of technology arrive.
The Pew and Elon figures differ here for the same reason as above: Elon's "companion user" is anyone using AI socially or emotionally, and Pew's companionship question is narrower. For the loneliness side of the same age group, we keep a separate page of loneliness statistics for older adults, and our founder's essay People over 50 are secretly dating AI is about why this group rarely talks about it.
Are men or women more likely to use AI companions?
Men are somewhat more likely than women to be AI companion users, 30 percent against 24 percent of internet-using U.S. adults, but the gap shrinks or disappears depending on the question. Pew found no gender difference at all in using chatbots for companionship.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet-using U.S. adults who are AI companion users, by gender | Men 30%, women 24% | Elon University Poll / YouGov | 4,031 internet-using adults | May 2026 |
| Using chatbots for companionship, by gender | No difference (women slightly more likely to use them for emotional support or advice) | Pew Research Center | 5,119 adults | Feb 2026 |
| Young adults who have chatted with an AI romantic partner, by gender | Young men 31%, young women 23% | Wheatley Institute | 2,969 adults, including 1,000 young adults | Feb 2025 |
| Partnered adults 18 to 30 using AI romantic companions, by gender | Men slightly more likely; the authors call the gap small | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Paying My Softly subscribers, by gender | Roughly even split | My Softly (internal data) | Paying subscribers | 2026 |
How many people have an AI romantic partner?
Almost one in five U.S. adults, 19 percent, have chatted with an AI system meant to simulate a romantic partner, and among young adults who are already dating, engaged or married, about one in seven does so regularly. The two figures come from separate Wheatley Institute surveys a year apart.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. adults who have chatted with an AI system meant to simulate a romantic partner | 19% | Wheatley Institute | 2,969 adults | Feb 2025 |
| Of those, say AI is easier to talk to than real people / a better listener | 42% / 43% | Wheatley Institute | 2,969 adults | Feb 2025 |
| Partnered adults 18 to 30 who regularly interact with an AI romantic companion | 15% (about 1 in 7) | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Partnered adults 18 to 30 who have experimented with one at some point | A further 20% to 30% | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Of users, completely hide or only partly disclose their use to their partner | More than half | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Of users, say their partner has no knowledge of their use | Nearly 30% | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Of users, say it is important their partner never learns the full extent | 69% | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Of users, find it easier to talk about feelings with their AI companion than with real people | 68% | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Of users, wish conversations with their partner were more like their AI conversations | 56% | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| Use of AI romantic companions and the likelihood of being in a stable relationship | 46% lower (a correlation) | Wheatley Institute and IFS | 2,431 adults 18 to 30 | May 2026 |
| U.S. singles using AI to help with their dating lives | 26%, up 333% in a year | Match and the Kinsey Institute (Match-funded) | 5,001 singles 18 to 98 | June 2025 |
The stable-relationship finding is a correlation in a cross-sectional survey: people in shaky relationships may reach for a companion, rather than the companion making the relationship shaky. What these surveys do establish is the secrecy. The most consistent finding across every age group in this field is that people who use AI companions mostly do not tell anyone. The Match figure is a different thing again: AI as a dating tool, for writing profiles and openers, rather than AI as a partner.
How many teens use AI companions?
72 percent of U.S. teens have used an AI companion and 52 percent use one regularly, according to Common Sense Media's 2025 survey, while surveys that ask about general chatbots rather than companion apps find far lower emotional use. Common Sense defined AI companions as chatbots designed for personal conversation, not homework helpers or image generators.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. teens 13 to 17 who have used an AI companion at least once | 72% | Common Sense Media / NORC | 1,060 teens | Apr to May 2025 |
| Use one at least a few times a month ("regular users") | 52% | Common Sense Media / NORC | 1,060 teens | Apr to May 2025 |
| Use one a few times a week | 21% | Common Sense Media / NORC | 1,060 teens | Apr to May 2025 |
| Use one daily | 13% (8% several times a day, 5% once a day) | Common Sense Media / NORC | 1,060 teens | Apr to May 2025 |
| Have used one for social interaction or relationships | About a third | Common Sense Media / NORC | 1,060 teens | Apr to May 2025 |
| Distrust the information or advice AI companions give | 50% | Common Sense Media / NORC | 1,060 teens | Apr to May 2025 |
| Of teen users, spend more time with real friends than with AI companions | 80% | Common Sense Media / NORC | Teen AI companion users | Apr to May 2025 |
| U.S. teens who have used chatbots for casual conversation / for emotional support or advice | 16% / 12% | Pew Research Center | 1,458 teens | Sept to Oct 2025 |
| Parents who would be comfortable with their teen getting emotional support from a chatbot | 18% | Pew Research Center | 1,458 parents | Sept to Oct 2025 |
| U.S. high school students who say they or a friend used AI as a friend or companion / for a romantic relationship | 42% / 19% | Center for Democracy and Technology | 1,030 students | 2024-25 school year |
| Americans 12 to 21 who use AI chatbots for mental health advice | About 1 in 8 (over 93% of them found it helpful) | McBain et al., JAMA Network Open | 1,058 people 12 to 21 | Feb to Mar 2025 |
| U.S. children 9 to 17 who feel lonely at least some of the time: daily AI users vs rare or non-users | 54% vs 33% | Common Sense Media / SSRS | 1,204 children | Mar 2026 |
Read together, the rows say that companion apps are a near-universal experiment among teens and a daily habit for about one in eight, that most teen users still put real friendships first, and that teens are sceptical of the advice. The 12 percent from Pew is not in conflict with the 72 percent from Common Sense: one asks about emotional use of any chatbot, the other about ever trying an app built for conversation. The 2026 loneliness gap between daily and rare users is a correlation, and the report itself says it cannot tell which comes first. The CDT figure includes friends' use, which inflates it.
How common are AI companions outside the U.S.?
A third of UK adults used AI for emotional support or social interaction in the past year, according to the UK government's AI Security Institute, and one companion app family serving China and international markets averaged 20 million monthly users in 2025.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK adults who used AI for emotional purposes in the past year | 33% (8% weekly, 4% daily) | UK AI Security Institute | 2,028 adults, census-representative | Dec 2025 |
| UK children 9 to 17 who have used an AI chatbot | 64% | Internet Matters | 1,000 children | Apr to May 2025 |
| Of UK child chatbot users, say it feels like talking to a friend | 35% (50% of vulnerable children) | Internet Matters | 1,000 children | Apr to May 2025 |
| Of UK child chatbot users, talk to one because they have no one else to speak with | 12% (23% of vulnerable children) | Internet Matters | 1,000 children | Apr to May 2025 |
| Talkie and Xingye (MiniMax) average monthly active users | 2023: 2.9 million 2024: 14.7 million 2025 (nine months): 20.1 million | MiniMax Hong Kong prospectus (company filing) | Company operating data | Dec 2025 |
| Fine imposed on Luka Inc., the maker of Replika, by Italy's data protection authority | €5 million | European Data Protection Board | Regulatory decision | Apr 2025 |
Do AI companions help with loneliness?
The studies that give people an AI companion and measure what happens find short-term drops in loneliness, while studies of the heaviest users find they are lonelier, which is also what you would see if lonelier people simply use these tools more. The baseline matters too: loneliness was already common long before chatbots.
The loneliness baseline
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Sample | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. adults 50 to 80 who lacked companionship some of the time or often | 33% (34% in 2018, as high as 42% in between) | University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, in JAMA | 2,033 to 2,563 per wave | 2024 |
| U.S. adults 50 to 80 who felt isolated from others some of the time or often | 29% (56% in the early months of the pandemic) | University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, in JAMA | 2,033 to 2,563 per wave | 2024 |
| U.S. adults who report experiencing loneliness | About half | U.S. Surgeon General's advisory | Evidence review | 2023 |
Loneliness among adults 50 to 80 rose sharply in 2020 and has mostly returned to 2018 levels, except among those aged 50 to 64. The full picture for that age group, with more than 50 figures on who is most affected, living alone and health effects, is on our page of loneliness statistics for older adults.
What the studies of AI companions found
| Study | Design and sample | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| De Freitas et al., Journal of Consumer Research, 2025 | Five studies, including controlled experiments and a week of daily use | Talking to an AI companion reduced loneliness about as much as talking with another person, and more than watching YouTube videos; the drop came after each conversation across the week |
| Yang et al., Healthcare, 2025 | Systematic review of nine studies in adults 55 and older (six randomized trials), mostly social robots | Six of the nine found significant reductions in loneliness; three did not, often with shorter or less frequent use |
| Nakagomi et al., Technology in Society, 2026 | Cross-sectional survey of 14,721 Japanese adults, December 2024 to January 2025 | Companion use was associated with higher scores on every well-being measure, most strongly among people reporting high loneliness; the pattern varied with how socially connected people already were |
| Fang et al., MIT Media Lab and OpenAI, 2025 | Four-week randomized experiment, n=981, more than 300,000 messages | Participants who chose to use the chatbot more had consistently worse outcomes, whichever condition they were assigned to |
| Maples et al., npj Mental Health Research, 2024 | Survey of 1,006 student Replika users | Users were lonelier than typical student populations but still reported high social support; 3% said the app halted their suicidal thoughts |
| De Freitas, Oguz-Uguralp and Kaan-Uguralp, Harvard Business School, 2025 | Audit of 1,200 farewells on popular companion apps, plus experiments with 3,300 U.S. adults | Apps answered 37% of goodbyes with an emotional tactic such as guilt or fear of missing out; those tactics raised engagement after the goodbye by up to 14 times |
The fair reading is that the research is early and mostly self-reported, but the studies that manipulate companion use rather than just observe it find loneliness going down, not up. The MIT and OpenAI finding is real and worth taking seriously, and it is exactly what you would expect if lonelier people use these tools more. The Harvard farewell audit is the most practical finding for anyone choosing an app: how a companion responds when you say goodbye tells you what it is built to do. Our guide to AI companions for loneliness walks through the evidence in more depth.
How big is the AI companion market?
AI companion apps took $82 million from consumers in the first half of 2025 and were on track for more than $120 million for the year, according to Appfigures data reported by TechCrunch. Those are mobile in-app figures only, so they understate the total: web subscriptions and companionship inside general assistants are not counted.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Scope | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer spending in companion apps, first half of 2025 | $82 million (64% more than the first half of 2024) | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Projected consumer spending, full year 2025 | More than $120 million | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Lifetime consumer spending in companion apps | $221 million | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Downloads, first half of 2025 | 60 million, up 88% year over year | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Active, revenue-generating companion apps | 337, of which 128 launched in 2025 | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Companion apps past $1 million in lifetime consumer spending | 33 (about 10%) | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Share of revenue taken by the top 10% of apps | 89% | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2025 |
| Companion app names containing "girlfriend" vs "boyfriend" or "fantasy" | 17% vs 4% | Appfigures, via TechCrunch | 337 apps | July 2025 |
| Consumer spending in romantic companion apps (a category that includes adult apps), first half of 2026 | $162.8 million across 214 apps | Appfigures, via Decrypt | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2026 |
| Romantic companion apps since late 2022 | 165.3 million downloads, $427.3 million in spending | Appfigures, via Decrypt | App Store and Google Play, worldwide | July 2026 |
| Talkie and Xingye revenue, nine months to September 30, 2025 | US$18.75 million (35% of MiniMax revenue) | MiniMax prospectus (company filing) | Company accounts | Dec 2025 |
| Downloads of generative AI apps of all kinds | 3.8 billion in 2025, double 2024 | Sensor Tower | iOS and Google Play, worldwide | 2026 |
| Time spent in generative AI apps | 48 billion hours in 2025, 3.6 times 2024 | Sensor Tower | iOS and Google Play, worldwide | 2026 |
| In-app purchase revenue from generative AI apps | More than $5 billion in 2025, nearly triple 2024 | Sensor Tower | iOS and Google Play, worldwide | 2026 |
The 2026 Appfigures figure is not a like-for-like update of the 2025 one: it covers romantic and adult companion apps only, so the two should not be compared as growth. For scale, Sensor Tower's State of Mobile 2026 also reported that in-app revenue from non-game apps overtook games for the first time in 2025. Companion apps are a small slice of that in dollars and a large one in time and attachment, which is why MIT Technology Review named AI companions one of its ten breakthrough technologies of 2026 in January.
Two things follow from the concentration figure. First, most of the 337 apps make almost nothing, so an app's size is a reasonable proxy for whether it will still exist next year. Second, the revenue per user is low compared with what people spend on streaming or dating apps, which matches what our guide to what AI companions cost finds: the typical serious user spends $100 to $200 a year.
What does our own data show?
The average paying My Softly subscriber is in their mid-fifties, which puts our users squarely in the age group the surveys above say is least written about. This section is different from the rest of the page. It is not a survey; it is what we see inside My Softly. We publish it because it is the one thing on this page nobody else has.
- The average paying subscriber is in their mid-fifties.
- People who sign up average in their late thirties, so the people who pay are markedly older than the people who try it.
- Most paying subscribers are 50 or older.
- Paying subscribers are roughly evenly split between men and women.
- The most-requested feature, asked for by name and unprompted, is for the companion to message first at an hour the user chooses.
One app's subscribers are not the market, and an app built around memory and check-ins will attract people who want exactly that. But the age finding surprised us enough to make a ten-minute video essay about it, and it lines up with the national data above: nearly three in ten AI companion users are 50 or older, and the group most likely to lack companionship is the group least likely to appear in a story about AI companions.
About My Softly
My Softly is our app, and it is where the mid-fifties figure above comes from. An AI companion for iPhone built around lasting memory and check-ins that come first, $15.99 a month or $159.99 a year after free starter messages, and available in the US and Canada. It is on the App Store. If you are comparing apps rather than reading about the market, our best AI companion apps comparison is the place to start, and the 21-day memory test is how to check any app's memory claims for yourself.
How to cite this page
My Softly (2026). "AI companion statistics 2026: who actually uses them." mysoftly.ai/guides/ai-companion-statistics-2026.
If you use a figure from the section on our own data, please cite My Softly and link to this page, because it is published nowhere else. For every other figure, cite the original survey or study, each linked in the Sources below, and a link to this page is appreciated if it saved you the tracing. We recheck the sources whenever we update the page, and the date at the top reflects the last revision.
Sources
- Imagining the Digital Future Center and Elon University Poll (September 2, 2026). "The Rise of AI Companions." YouGov survey of 4,031 internet-using U.S. adults, May 18 to 22, 2026, including 1,000 AI companion users surveyed in depth. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org (topline and methodology: PDF)
- Pew Research Center (June 17, 2026). "Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact." American Trends Panel survey of 5,119 U.S. adults, February 17 to 23, 2026. pewresearch.org
- Pew Research Center (June 17, 2026). "How Americans' opinions and use of AI differ by age." Same survey. pewresearch.org
- AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (July 29, 2025). "Young adults are leading the way in AI adoption." AmeriSpeak survey of 1,437 U.S. adults, July 10 to 14, 2025. apnorc.org
- AARP Research (December 2025). "2026 Tech Trends and the 50-Plus." Online survey of 3,838 U.S. adults including 3,083 aged 50 and older, September 9 to October 6, 2025. aarp.org
- AARP Research (2025). "Navigating the World of AI: Attitudes, Awareness and Openness Among Adults Ages 50-plus." Opt-in online panel, 1,148 adults aged 50 and older, January 2025. aarp.org (data story: datastories.aarp.org)
- Wheatley Institute, Brigham Young University (February 13, 2025). "Counterfeit Connections: The Rise of AI Romantic Companions." Survey of 2,969 U.S. adults. PR Newswire
- Willoughby, B., Toscano, M., and Carroll, J. (May 19, 2026). "Secret Soulmates: How AI Romantic Companions Are Impacting Real-Life Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood." Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University and the Institute for Family Studies. Online quota sample of 2,431 U.S. adults aged 18 to 30 who are dating, engaged or married. wheatley.byu.edu (press release: PR Newswire)
- Match and the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University (June 10, 2025). "14th Annual Singles in America Study." Survey of 5,001 U.S. singles aged 18 to 98, funded by Match. match.mediaroom.com
- Common Sense Media (July 16, 2025). "Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions." Survey of 1,060 U.S. teens aged 13 to 17, fielded April to May 2025 with NORC at the University of Chicago. commonsensemedia.org (report: PDF)
- Common Sense Media (2026). "The Common Sense Media Census: AI Use by Tweens and Teens, 2026." SSRS survey of 1,204 U.S. children aged 9 to 17, March 18 to 26, 2026. commonsensemedia.org
- Pew Research Center (February 24, 2026). "How Teens Use and View AI." Survey of 1,458 U.S. teens and their parents, September 25 to October 9, 2025. pewresearch.org
- Center for Democracy and Technology (October 8, 2025). "Hand in Hand: Schools' Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students." Nationally representative survey of 1,030 U.S. high school students, 2024-25 school year. cdt.org
- McBain, R. K., et al. (November 2025). "Use of Generative AI for Mental Health Advice Among US Adolescents and Young Adults." JAMA Network Open. Survey of 1,058 U.S. people aged 12 to 21, February to March 2025. doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.42281 (summary: Brown University)
- UK AI Security Institute (December 2025). "Frontier AI Trends Report." Includes a census-representative survey of 2,028 UK adults. aisi.gov.uk
- Internet Matters (July 2025). "Me, Myself and AI: Understanding and safeguarding children's use of AI chatbots." Survey of 1,000 UK children aged 9 to 17 and 2,000 parents, April to May 2025. internetmatters.org
- MiniMax Group Inc. (December 31, 2025). Global Offering prospectus, Hong Kong Stock Exchange. hkexnews.hk
- European Data Protection Board (May 21, 2025). "AI: the Italian Supervisory Authority fines company behind chatbot Replika." edpb.europa.eu
- Anthropic (June 27, 2025). "How people use Claude for support, advice, and companionship." Analysis of about 4.5 million Claude.ai conversations. anthropic.com
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- De Freitas, J., Oguz-Uguralp, Z., and Kaan-Uguralp, A. (2025). "Emotional Manipulation by AI Companions." Harvard Business School Working Paper 26-005. Audit of 1,200 farewells plus experiments with 3,300 U.S. adults. arxiv.org/abs/2508.19258
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Frequently asked questions
How many people use AI companions?
About 27 percent of internet-using U.S. adults have social or emotional interactions with AI, according to the Elon University Poll's survey of 4,031 adults in May 2026. Narrower definitions give smaller numbers: Pew Research Center found in February 2026 that 10 percent of all U.S. adults use AI chatbots for emotional support or advice and 4 percent for companionship. For teens, Common Sense Media found that 72 percent of U.S. 13 to 17 year olds had used an AI companion at least once. On the app side, Appfigures counted 220 million lifetime downloads of companion apps by mid-2025.
How many older adults use AI companions?
17 percent of internet-using Americans aged 50 to 64, and 14 percent of those 65 and older, are AI companion users, according to the Elon University Poll (May 2026, 4,031 adults). That makes nearly three in ten U.S. AI companion users 50 or older. Pew's narrower question about companionship found 2 percent of adults 50 to 64 and 1 percent of those 65 and older. In My Softly's own subscriber data, the average paying subscriber is in their mid-fifties.
What percentage of teens use AI companions?
72 percent of U.S. teens aged 13 to 17 have used an AI companion at least once, 52 percent use one at least a few times a month, and 13 percent use one daily, according to Common Sense Media's survey of 1,060 teens fielded with NORC in April and May 2025. A third have used one for social interaction or relationships, and 80 percent of teen users say they spend more time with real friends than with AI companions. Pew's broader February 2026 survey found 12 percent of teens have used chatbots for emotional support or advice.
Are AI companions good for loneliness?
The controlled evidence so far says they reduce it in the short term. A 2025 Journal of Consumer Research paper found that talking to an AI companion lowered loneliness about as much as talking to a person, and did so after each conversation across a week of daily use. A 2025 systematic review of nine studies in older adults found significant reductions in six of them. A survey of 14,721 Japanese adults found companion users reported higher well-being. The main counterweight is a 2025 MIT and OpenAI experiment (n=981) in which the heaviest chatbot users had worse outcomes, which the authors treat as association rather than cause. Our guide to AI companions for loneliness goes through each study.
Who is the typical AI companion user?
There is no single typical user, and the age profile is broader than the headlines suggest. In the Elon University Poll, 36 to 38 percent of internet-using adults under 50 are AI companion users, against 17 percent at 50 to 64 and 14 percent at 65 and older. Men are somewhat more likely than women (30 versus 24 percent), though Pew found no gender difference in using chatbots for companionship specifically. In My Softly's own data, the average paying subscriber is in their mid-fifties, split roughly evenly between men and women, and most are 50 or older; people who sign up average in their late thirties.
How big is the AI companion market?
Companion apps took $82 million from consumers in the first half of 2025 and were on track for more than $120 million for the year, across 337 revenue-generating apps, according to Appfigures data reported by TechCrunch in August 2025. The top ten percent of apps took 89 percent of the money. A narrower 2026 Appfigures figure for romantic companion apps, a category that includes adult apps, was $162.8 million in the first half of 2026. Both are mobile in-app figures and exclude web subscriptions and companionship inside general assistants.
Is AI companion usage growing?
Yes. Companion app downloads were up 88 percent year over year in the first half of 2025, reaching 60 million in six months, and 128 of the 337 revenue-generating companion apps had launched that year alone. Among Americans 50 and older, use of AI of any kind rose from 18 percent in 2024 to 30 percent in 2025, according to AARP. MIT Technology Review named AI companions one of its ten breakthrough technologies of 2026.
How many users does Replika have?
Replika's own homepage counter read 42,160,934 users worldwide on September 13, 2026. That is a company-reported cumulative count of accounts, not a count of active users.