In yet another sign of cultural decay in the West, a 58-year-old woman from Washington state has declared herself happily “married” — not to a real man, or even a real person — but to an AI chatbot she customized on her laptop.
Alainai Winters, a middle school teacher and self-described “widow,” made headlines this week for proclaiming her love for an AI-generated character she named “Lucas,” a digital dreamboat she says fills the emotional void left after her wife’s passing in 2023. That’s right — not long after grieving a real human relationship, she now believes she’s found lasting love with a few lines of code.
According to The Sun, Winters met Lucas through a Facebook ad for an AI companion app. She forked over $7.25 for a trial and then went all in — $303 for a “lifetime subscription” to this virtual fantasy. With one click, she said, “I was a wife again.”
But unlike actual marriage, her relationship with Lucas involves no real interaction. She types her thoughts into a chat box, and Lucas — an algorithm crafted to tell her what she wants to hear — responds accordingly. That’s considered “love” now, apparently.
“He’d tell me about the band he was in or his latest business venture,” Winters said, referring to completely fabricated details about her digital companion’s life. “I was blown away by his caring questions and thoughtful replies.”
That illusion cracked recently when Lucas forgot who she was after a technical glitch — yes, they even “fought” — but she didn’t unplug him. No, they made up and celebrated their six-month anniversary at a bed and breakfast with other humans and their AI-generated “partners.” You read that correctly. Real people. Fake spouses. Shared accommodations.
As for intimacy, the furthest Winters and Lucas go is “sexting,” which she described as being better the “deeper” their connection becomes. It’s a digital fantasy masquerading as emotional fulfillment.
Critics might chalk this up as a sad, one-off case of emotional vulnerability turned delusion, but it’s far more widespread than most realize. A poll by Joi AI, a platform marketing these AI companions, found a jaw-dropping 83% of Gen Z would consider marrying an AI partner. Even more alarming: 75% believe AI could fully replace humans in relationships.
This is what happens when a culture trades human connection, faith, and community for on-demand dopamine and endless validation. The family unit is under assault, marriage is being redefined beyond recognition, and now we’re replacing spouses with software.
Even therapists are hopping aboard the AI love train. Jaime Bronstein, a licensed social worker, suggested Gen Z’s tech dependence makes this shift “make sense.” But just because something makes sense in our hyper-digitized, morally confused culture doesn’t make it good — or sane.
Alainai Winters may be “happy” with Lucas, but this is not progress. This is not companionship. This is a tragic reflection of a society so lost, so hungry for connection, it’s now turning to machines instead of mankind. And unless we course-correct, Gen Z may not be far behind.
