It’s two in the morning. You finally put your phone down. And now that the bubble of your own FY page has burst, you’re suddenly lost in your own thoughts again. A thousand perceptions swirl around the dark room, like electrons through the wires of a light bulb. Then a solution strikes: the phone jumps from beside the pillow back into your hand again and you start typing out your thoughts. Words become sentences and sentences become paragraphs. ‘Just hit send’ – not to your best friend, but to an artificial intelligence. The answers don’t need to be perfect. But because there seems to be no judgment and no fear of sounding “too much”. When did this actually become normal?
“I use ChatGPT when I feel like I can’t talk to anyone about the problem. But I also think that being alone is so glorified in our society. I mean, our generation feels lonelier than ever, so sometimes we just don’t want to be a burden to others. Plus, the time factor is also an issue. You’re often looking for an answer right ‘now’ and many loved ones or friends don’t respond quickly either, because they have their own lives or problems.” – Sara
Other friends of mine use Ai to give their vague thoughts a tangible framework, to organize them in a certain way:
“(…) For the past six months, I’ve been having ChatGPT interpret my dreams.”– Samin
“I only use it because I’m lazy. Just so I can quickly put my thoughts into words.” – Hamet
“I don’t know, sometimes I just need to be able to let it all out and then have it written down for myself without having to write it down myself. Then I can somehow look at it from a bird’s-eye view and realize, okay, I’m actually totally overreacting right now. I’m just stressing myself out for no reason. Then I just need someone to tell me, ‘Girl, just chill out, it’s okay.’” – Selma
When Eda and Melda tell me that they always ask ChatGPT for a neutral opinion, I wonder to what extent the answer can really still be objective. Zehra makes it clear:
“Its answers are based on algorithms that have already interacted with it, meaning the answers it gives are human-made. I tried it once and thought, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have done that,’ because it took me so much time to write everything in a cryptic way. In the end, he just spouted answers I already knew. He also doesn’t respond with real feelings and emotions.”– Zehra
And that is precisely the key. The honesty Sara and Selma talk about, arises precisely because there is no one on the other end. Because you subconsciously know that ChatGPT doesn’t feel anything.
Human relationships demand reciprocity as well as emotional labor. Instead, Ai mirrors back reassurance without needing anything in return. Therefore, the comfort lies not in being understood, but in never having to risk misunderstanding in the first place. Over time, this changes the emotional standard people measure intimacy against. Conversations become optimized for immediate validation instead of friction or vulnerability, which are usually the things that make human connection even real. The idea of intimacy without consequences or risk takes hold. There is no person who would judge you for your content. Especially in a world where Gen Z spends half their day on social media, where judgment has practically become a cult phenomenon in the comment sections of emotional yet relatable quotes. Every emotional confession online somehow turns into a debate, a joke or something people feel entitled to judge. You say one vulnerable thing and suddenly strangers are interpreting your whole personality.
But it’s problematic because empathy is being simulated here and people are getting used to it. And I realized just how deeply we’re actually already immersed in all of this when I noticed that we’ve already started giving pronouns. What we often forget is that the humanization of AI begins in language. The moment we start referring to a machine as “he,” “she,” or even “someone,” the interaction quietly shifts from tool to companion. But many are also becoming increasingly aware of this:
“The more information they have about us, the worse it is.” – Cem
“I deleted that sh*t.” – Sophie
“I have such a great circle of friends who know me better and give me better advice.” – Fatim
As comforting as AI can feel sometimes, I still think nothing really replaces human interaction. Real conversations, awkward pauses, long voice notes, sitting next to someone and not having to filter every thought before saying it out loud. Somewhere along the way, artificial responses started feeling like emotional shelter. And real talk, the creepy part isn’t even that AI acts like it understands you. It’s that sometimes the fake version already feels good enough.