When Sophia*\u2019s high school friend Jen* moved to Washington, D.C., Sophia was excited to reconnect. She quickly integrated Jen into her circle, showing her around the city, going to museums, and taking her to her favorite restaurants. Now Jen is moving out of town again \u2014 but maybe that\u2019s for the best. Things have been kind of weird ever since she mentioned how she uses ChatGPT.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to avoid using [AI] as much as possible,\u201d says Sophia, 28. Like the majority of her inner circle, she prefers to steer clear of it due to its environmental<\/a> and cognitive impacts<\/a>. \u201cWe were walking to the metro on the way home from brunch one day, and another friend was telling a story about someone else and [said], \u2018Oh my gosh, and they\u2019re even using ChatGPT for therapy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Jen admitted she does too. \u201c[She said] when she\u2019s feeling very overwhelmed, she\u2019s found it helpful to word-vomit into ChatGPT and then have it validate her,\u201d Sophia says. \u201c[She got] very defensive, saying that it\u2019s a helpful way to process her emotions and that she knows lots of people who use it, including her boyfriend and some of her family.\u201d<\/p>\n Jen doesn\u2019t see any human, licensed mental health professionals, which concerns Sophia, especially since many AI models are trained to validate<\/a> users and can\u2019t fully comprehend the complexities of human emotion.<\/p>\n There was an awkward silence. For the sake of keeping the peace, Sophia now treats AI as an off-limits subject.<\/p>\n \u201cI think [avoiding uncomfortable topics] comes easy to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI [grew] up in the South, and I feel like it is very reminiscent of the way politics are treated \u2014 that compartmentalization of who you can get into the weeds about your opinions with and who it\u2019s better to just stick to other topics that are less contentious.\u201d<\/p>\n Their friendship has been surface-level ever since.<\/p>\n Over 2 billion queries<\/a> are processed on ChatGPT daily. With 900 million weekly active users<\/a>, it\u2019s the most popular AI tool in the world. The technology is new and controversial, and for those who strongly dislike it, a close friend\u2019s usage could be a turnoff. Others get help from AI when they need advice, but it can, by nature, take out the very human element that intimate bonds are made from. So where does one draw the line?<\/p>\n Ella, 31, received what was meant to be a heartfelt text from her best friend of more than two decades, though it sounded oddly contrived \u2014 and it changed their long-standing relationship forever. In 2020, Ella experienced several familial losses in quick succession, which led to a period of intense grief and depression. By 2023, she started to feel better and told her friend Robyn* that she hadn\u2019t felt enough support when she really needed it.<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted a friend that considered me, not a friend who had some perfect answer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Robyn admitted that she wished she had shown up for Ella differently. For the next two years, the pair tried to rebuild their friendship. Ella drove an hour through Manhattan traffic to celebrate Robyn\u2019s engagement and sent her flowers on Mother\u2019s Day. Then, on the anniversary of Ella\u2019s grandmother\u2019s passing, she received a text from Robyn that appeared to have been written by AI.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that was a dead giveaway were the em dashes,\u201d says Ella. \u201cAlso the verbiage was just really robotic. Something like \u2018I\u2019m thinking of you in your deep time of bereavement.\u2019 I think a lot of people who use ChatGPT for personal things tend just to forget that there\u2019s not a heartbeat to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ella was stunned but didn\u2019t say anything besides \u201cThank you for your kind words.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I thought about it a week or so later, I kind of used it as a sign that it was time to let go,\u201d she says. She\u2019d always been the more emotional one, but Robyn\u2019s apathy still stung. \u201cI just wanted a friend that considered me, not a friend who had some perfect answer. I didn\u2019t want a poem. I didn\u2019t want her to perform for me. I just wanted to know that she was at least thinking of me. There\u2019s a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n For Ella, it was the final straw. The two have since lost touch.<\/p>\n Sometimes, though, AI gets it right. Whitney, 37, can sometimes be honest to a fault and often uses ChatGPT to help fine-tune her tone when texting. Recently, her best friend told her, seemingly out of nowhere, that she wasn\u2019t sure how Whitney portrayed her to others behind her back. Whitney felt like she was a loyal friend, and the mischaracterization struck a nerve. Instead of replying in the heat of the moment, or dragging a third person into it by asking for their opinion, Whitney turned to the chatbot.<\/p>\n \u201cI take out those long, ugly dashes that make it look like you\u2019ve been on ChatGPT.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cI actually decided based on the conversation I had with Chat that I wasn\u2019t going to say anything, because I realized maybe she didn\u2019t mean that in a negative way,\u201d she says. \u201cIt kind of talked me off the ledge.\u201d<\/p>\n Other times, Whitney will show ChatGPT screenshots of her friends\u2019 texts or share a voice note explaining a situation and ask the language learning mode for help crafting a less abrasive reply.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like the old saying, \u2018Think before you speak,\u2019\u201d Whitney says. \u201cChatGPT will give me three options of what I want to say, I choose the best one, and I take out those long, ugly dashes that make it look like you\u2019ve been on ChatGPT. Then I definitely kind of zhuzh it up to \u2018Whitney-fy\u2019 it a little bit, although AI learns how you would speak over time.\u201d<\/p>\n For Ella and Sophia, the use of ChatGPT was the breaking point in some already fickle friendships. Meanwhile, for Whitney, it\u2019s the very tool that has allowed her to prioritize her best friends\u2019 feelings. Maybe it\u2019s not AI itself that threatens platonic relationships; rather, it exposes cracks that were already there.<\/p>\n Whitney knows her connections are strong enough to bounce back from a comment landing the wrong way but would rather sidestep the drama if possible. For Sophia and Jen, though, that tight bond was missing. Had they been closer, maybe they could have had devil\u2019s-advocate debates about their differing views over happy-hour drinks. In Ella\u2019s case, if the relationship had been stronger, Robyn may have been more comfortable sending an imperfect \u2014 yet earnest \u2014 text.<\/p>\n \u201cThe friends I have are ride or die,\u201d Whitney says. \u201cBut why bruise someone if you don\u2019t have to?\u201d<\/p>\n *Names have been changed.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"What](\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/getty\/2026\/4\/3\/f6e5cc9b\/07-march-2026-bavaria.jpg?w=414&h=276&fit=crop&crop=faces&dpr=2\")
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