India, Oct. 29 -- Good morning, love, the message reads: a text from a "companion" who never forgets birthdays, never argues and always replies within seconds. Except this someone isn't real. It's an AI chatbot. What once seemed like a scene from Her (a 2013 movie about a lonely man falling in love with an intelligent operating system) is now an everyday reality.

A recent study in the US found that one in five high schoolers has had or knows someone who has had a romantic and intimate relationship with artificial intelligence. Forty-two per cent said they or someone they know has used AI for companionship. In India, too, a McAfee report earlier this year revealed that 46% of respondents aged 18-30 chat with AI tools for comfort or compan...