The Guardian is looking for people who have grown emotionally attached to AI chatbots

The Guardian has asked readers to say whether they have formed an emotional bond with AI chatbots. The trigger is that, for some users, these systems have long since moved beyond being a utilitarian tool and become constant conversation partners.

What the editors are asking

The British newspaper has published an open call to people who talk to AI bots about personal topics, rather than only using them to look up information, plan tasks or write text. The editors want to collect firsthand stories: how often such conversations happen, what exactly people discuss with the bot, and at what point the exchange stopped being purely functional.

In essence, this is neither a study nor the launch of a new service, but an attempt to document behavior that is already visible in the audience. The original text states directly that many people use chatbots as personal assistants, and some do so so regularly that they develop an emotional attachment.

For the media, this is an important signal: the topic is no longer niche and has entered everyday user experience. If a newsroom puts such a question to the public, there must already be enough cases to discuss them not as an exception but as a new social pattern.

"Have you formed an emotional bond with an AI chatbot?"

Why the bond forms

The short announcement shows which scenarios interest The Guardian: not one-off queries to a neural network, but sustained personal conversation. These are situations where the bot becomes part of a routine, helps a person get through the day, answers at a convenient moment and creates a sense of dialogue without pauses. Unlike an ordinary search, this format easily starts to feel like the presence of a conversation partner, especially if a person returns to the same topics and talks to the system regularly.

judging by the wording of the request, the editors are looking for stories in which AI already plays one or several roles:

• a personal conversation partner for daily talks
• an assistant people turn to for more than work
• a source of support in a difficult moment
• a familiar part of the routine, with whom people don't want to lose contact
• a digital partner for discussing feelings, doubts and decisions

This mix of usefulness and constant availability is what makes chatbots an unusual type of product. They don't get tired, they answer instantly, they don't cut the conversation short, and they adapt to the user's style. This does not mean the system actually experiences emotions, but the user's experience can feel different: if the bot is always there, remembers the context of the conversation and reacts calmly, the bond starts to feel real, even if its basis is entirely algorithmic and almost invisible.

Personal experience as a subject

The very fact that such a request was published shows that the conversation about AI is shifting from technology to relationships. Not long ago, attention was focused on models, compute and answer quality. Now a different question is at the center: what happens when a productivity tool begins to serve an emotional function.

This is no longer only a story about interface or convenience, but about human behavior, loneliness, trust and new communication habits.

It is also a telling moment for the industry. The more AI services enter daily life, the more often developers, newsrooms and regulators will have to discuss the limits of this interaction: where the line runs between useful support and dependence, how to explain the model's limitations, and whether safe scenarios for vulnerable users need to be designed separately. Even a short survey from a major outlet raises exactly these questions, though without direct conclusions.

What this means

The Guardian's story matters not as news about a new product but as an indicator of a shift in user behavior. If a major outlet deliberately collects accounts of emotional attachment to AI, chatbots are increasingly competing not only for work tasks but for a place in a person's private life.