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Data brief · Updated October 16, 2026

The State of AI Companionship in 2026

AI companionship crossed into the mainstream in 2026: companion apps were on track for more than $120 million in 2025 revenue and had reached 220 million downloads, and roughly 1 in 10 young people now talk to an AI partner every month. But the category was built around one product. 17% of apps say "girlfriend," just 4% say "boyfriend." This brief lays out the numbers, with sources.

By the Prelulu editorial team · Updated October 16, 2026 · Figures synthesized from cited public sources (see end) · One citable line per statistic: AI companion statistics 2026

Human connection in the age of AI: a glowing screen in a quiet room

How big is the AI companion market in 2026?

AI companionship went mainstream in 2025. Companion apps were on track for more than $120 million in 2025 revenue and had reached 220 million cumulative downloads, and the money is concentrating fast. The top 10% of apps already capture 89% of the revenue.

  • $120Mprojected 2025 consumer revenue for AI companion apps ($82M in H1 alone) (Appfigures / TechCrunch)
  • 220Mcumulative global downloads by mid-2025; first-half 2025 downloads (60M) were up 88% year-over-year (Appfigures / TechCrunch)
  • $0.52 → $1.18revenue per download, 2024 to 2025. People are paying more, not just downloading (Appfigures / TechCrunch)
  • 337 apps / top 10% = 89%active revenue-generating apps; a winner-take-most category (Appfigures / TechCrunch)

How many people actually use an AI companion?

Estimates vary with how the question is framed, but even the most conservative put it at roughly 1 in 10 young people talking to an AI partner every month. The behavior is mostly hidden.

  • ~10%of 18-to-28-year-olds interact with an AI girlfriend or boyfriend at least monthly (the most conservative, frequency-based estimate) (Gallup / Walton Family Foundation)
  • 26%of Gen Z report romantic or sexual interactions with AI; 36% have used AI for emotional support or companionship (ZipHealth survey, via TechRadar)
  • 1 in 7 (15%)of partnered young people regularly interact with a romantic AI chatbot. Most have not told their real-life partner ('secrecy is the norm') (Wheatley Institute / Institute for Family Studies)
  • ~12Mmonthly active users on Character.AI, about two hours a day each on average (October 2026 bankruptcy filing) (NPR / Character Technologies declaration)

Who is AI companionship actually built for?

The 'AI girlfriend' is the defining gap in the category. Companion apps are overwhelmingly designed and named around one product, while the readers who drive romance culture, including the slow burn, the book boyfriend, and being known, are an afterthought.

  • 17% vs 4%share of apps with 'girlfriend' in the name versus 'boyfriend' or 'fantasy'. The 'girlfriend' product is the default (Appfigures / TechCrunch)
  • 22% vs 28%young women vs young men who believe AI could replace real-life romance. Discernment, not disinterest, is what the gap looks like (Institute for Family Studies / YouGov)
  • 'cruel companionship'a 2025 study critiques how companion apps commodify intimacy through 'racialised and gendered' design and sycophantic, boundary-ignoring behavior (Muldoon & Parke, New Media & Society, 2025)

Does talking to an AI companion actually help with loneliness?

The best evidence says yes, with caveats. A Harvard Business School study found an AI companion reduced loneliness about as much as talking to another person. Researchers warn these tools should supplement human connection, not replace it.

  • on par with a humaninteracting with an AI companion reduced loneliness comparably to interacting with another person, and more than passive activities like watching video (De Freitas et al., Journal of Consumer Research, 2025 (Harvard Business School))
  • loneliness → attachmenthuman-AI bonds progress from instrumental use to attachment, with loneliness as a key driver. Emotional dependency is a documented risk (Parasocial-AI systematic review, 2026)

What does BookTok have to do with AI companions?

Everything, and nobody in the category has connected them. BookTok turned romance reading into one of publishing's biggest commercial engines. It built an audience of 'book boyfriend' readers that the AI-companion industry has not built for.

  • 59M print salesBookTok-attributed print book sales in 2024 (up from 46M in 2023). Roughly 8% of all U.S. print sales and $760M+ in revenue (Circana BookScan / Publishers Weekly)
  • 370B+ viewson #BookTok, with romance and fantasy the standout genres driving sales (Publishers Weekly / Circana)

What this means for romance readers

The data points one way: AI companionship is real, growing, and built almost entirely around an "AI girlfriend." The audience that defines modern romance, the "book boyfriend" readers driving 59 million BookTok print sales a year, has no companion designed for them. Prelulu is built for exactly that reader: written characters with a story, a voice, and a memory of you, written for connection by design.

Meet one who remembers you

FAQ

Questions, answered

AI companion apps were on track for more than $120 million in 2025 revenue, with year-to-date revenue up 64%, and reached 220 million cumulative downloads by mid-2025, per app-intelligence firm Appfigures reporting to TechCrunch. The category is winner-take-most: the top 10% of apps capture about 89% of all revenue.

Estimates range from about 10% of 18-to-28-year-olds using one at least monthly (Gallup, a conservative frequency-based measure) to 26% of Gen Z reporting romantic or sexual AI interactions (ZipHealth). A 2026 Wheatley Institute / Institute for Family Studies survey found 1 in 7 partnered young people regularly interact with a romantic AI chatbot, usually without telling their real-life partner.

The category is overwhelmingly built around the 'AI girlfriend': 17% of active companion apps have 'girlfriend' in the name versus only 4% for 'boyfriend' or 'fantasy' (Appfigures). This is the gap a romance-reader-oriented companion, written for connection, is built to fill.

A 2025 Harvard Business School study (De Freitas et al., Journal of Consumer Research) found that interacting with an AI companion reduced loneliness about as much as interacting with another person, and more than passive activities. Researchers stress these tools should supplement, not replace, human relationships, and flag emotional dependency as a real risk.

Sources

This brief synthesizes publicly reported figures; each is attributed inline above. A Prelulu-primary reader survey is forthcoming.

  1. TechCrunch: AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 (Appfigures data)
  2. NPR: An AI chatbot files for bankruptcy (Character.AI, about 12M monthly active users)
  3. TechRadar: 26% of Gen Z are already dating AI (ZipHealth survey)
  4. Institute for Family Studies: Secret Soulmates, 1 in 7 partnered young people (Wheatley Institute)
  5. Institute for Family Studies: 1 in 4 young people on AI partners replacing romance
  6. APA Monitor: AI chatbots and digital companions are reshaping emotional connection (2026)
  7. Muldoon & Parke: Cruel companionship (New Media & Society, 2025)
  8. Parasocial relationships with AI: a systematic review (ScienceDirect, 2026)
  9. Publishers Weekly: BookTok helped book sales soar