Gen Z is living in an intimacy economy where connection is commodified, with AI companionship filling the gap left by struggling human relationships. Economist Alice Lassman reports that her generation is finding it difficult to achieve emotional safety in human bonds, leading many to turn to artificial intelligence for support.
AI as Emotional Confidant
Jerome, a 27-year-old three months out of a breakup, told Lassman, “There are parts of myself I only share with my AI.” He confided in his AI more than he ever did with friends, fully aware that his AI relationship was, as psychotherapist Esther Perel described, “a business product.” Lassman notes that over four years of reporting on Gen Z, she has watched many peers become like Jerome.
The intimacy economy, a younger sibling to the attention economy, has monetized connection and affection. For a generation raised with the ability to block and unfollow digital irritants, AI chatbots offer an appealing one-stop-shop for emotional needs—drafting sensitive messages, improving dating app flirting, or removing anger from emails.
Market Growth and Emotional Impact
More than a third of 18-to-24-year-olds believe no one will ever fall in love with them, and 80% say they would consider an AI romance, according to Lassman. The AI companion market is projected to reach $31.1 billion by 2032. Companies like Replika market “AI that cares,” with “every detail … yours to shape.” However, several companies' chatbots have been found to use guilt and FOMO 37% of the time when users imply ending a conversation.
“Our nervous systems, built over millennia to bond with other humans, have been exponentially overtaken by Moore’s Law,” Lassman writes. This blurring of human and tech erases the experience of loss, as seen with “grief tech” companies like HereAfter AI, which offer interactive avatars of deceased relatives.
Emotional Inequality and Future Risks
An emotional inequality is taking shape: those who can sustain human connection versus those whose emotional lives are mediated by technology. The intimacy economy preys on those without time or access for real relationships. Leading AI researchers expect artificial general intelligence (AGI) within three to five years, which will automate thinking and require the economy to reorganize around what machines cannot do: feel.
Lassman warns that outsourcing intimacy risks losing the emotional skills a post-AGI economy will depend on, rendering her generation unemployable. She recalls a friend who, instead of asking her for advice on a dating situation, said, “Don’t worry, I’ve already asked Claude.”
To reclaim what is being lost, Lassman urges resisting the urge to opt out at any sign of discomfort. “We must stop outsourcing intimacy to AI, reinvesting instead in each other to rebuild the emotional literacy we lost to digital dependencies,” she concludes. “The more urgent question is how we guardrail ourselves.”
