Commentary: AI will affect your social life, even if you've never used it

Commentary

AI has become a kind of social sealant, filling the gaps in young people’s relationships, says Alice Lassman for the New York Times.

Young people are relying emotionally on AI more than we realise. (Photo:iStock/RyanKing999)

12 Aug 2026 05:58AM

LONDON: I used all my savings to buy myself a Wi-Fi-enabled iPod Touch just short of my 13th birthday. Many of my memories follow from there: the portal to my formative experiences, the flutters of a first crush, the last text sent after our breakup. I learned romance through screens; I learned danger through screenshots. Like many Gen Z-ers, I see my Safari tabs as extensions of my most private inner world.For most people my age, one of those tabs is often a chatbot.When I write about artificial intelligence and intimacy, people tend to imagine AI girlfriends or tech fanatics. Only extreme users would use chatbots to manage their social and emotional lives, or so the thinking goes. But in conversations with other Gen Z-ers, I’ve found that young people are relying emotionally on AI more than we realise.