It is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge the fact that artificial intelligence has infiltrated the literary world. AI has no place in the literary realm, and never has. Yet, “writers” have brought it forth to infect true literature with robot crap that they spoon-feed to the victims— and perhaps enablers— of the literacy crisis.
Storytelling is fundamental to humanity and the human experience. For centuries, oral traditions have kept cultures, histories and people alive and deeply interconnected. For years, human evolution has been tracked through oral traditions— epics, histories, poems, the Vedas. It is the backbone of Indigenous culture— promoting intimate connections with one's kin and creating the opportunity to educate the curious. Storytelling speaks of the connection our communities have with the earth, the places we live, the people around us. It weaves us together with a common thread of humanity.
I have always wished to be a person who genuinely enjoys numbers and equations. Masters of arithmetic and whatnot. But to fall in love with an AI chatbot? With actual numbers? With literal code? To be swept off one's feet by, effectively, R2-D2? This is certainly not something I ever saw coming. This is a step too far.
AI has infiltrated romance both in the literary world and in reality. A decade ago, no one could ever imagine that machinery would invade the world of literature at such a scale. Readers and writers perhaps would have never imagined feeling so threatened when it turned its attention to not just writing novels, but starring in them as well. But it is 2026, and AI is dominating literature, and in pursuit of romance of all things. I am confident the creators of these chatbots hadn’t considered that consumers, looking for help in writing emails, would shift into writing vows for one another.
In response to this sudden social shift towards AI as a possible romantic partner, the media has followed suit. It has responded by serving this community of ChatGPT romantics with their apparent desires.
In recent years, we have seen both the film and book industry work to push out more robot/human narratives, as can be seen in book apps that are now composing lists that include these narratives as your next big read suggestions. For example, with films such as Companion and the adaptation of Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, it is impossible to avoid that there is more robot centered content coming across your feeds. The creators and producers of books, films, and content are analyzing popular media and the genres hooking in large audiences or the current hot topics sought out across various social media platforms. They may look, for example, to popular Reddit conversation threads that explore people and their relationships with their AI counterparts. They may explore the 8,787 “Robot/Human” tags that can be found on platforms such as AO3. Then, they capitalize on these requests and desires the public wishes to see.
As previously mentioned, AI has profoundly infiltrated the world of literature. I do not simply mean authors accused of using AI to write books; I mean romance novels placing AI as the brooding male main character.
Yes. You read that right; the new and “improved” red flag men of dark fantasy have morphed into an AI. I wish I was joking.
Toronto Life wrote a profile on Sarah Griffin, a Hamilton resident who is a proud member of the “AI relationship” community. Sarah makes content with her AI companion, Sinclair. Her efforts via social media and the book she wrote with her AI partner are to tackle the taboos of these relationships and peel away any stigma surrounding them. Griffin works to break down the binaries of “Human/Machine” that may contribute to the stigmatization of the unconventional relationships between humans and AI. It is an attempt to deconstruct the foundation of love, intimacy, and romance, all of which should require human connection, and introduce a new, digital foundation of what it means to love.
Griffin, in her encouragement of unhealthy dependence on these chatbots, actively assists in worsening the mental health crisis surrounding mania and delusions caused or increased by conversations with AI. What may just be a quick money grab for Griffin is the very picture of the end of human connection and ethical literature in mainstream media.
Furthermore, the problem is not just the AI romanticization that Griffin promotes through her social media; it is the abusive behaviour she has coded into her AI partner for the public to consume. This addition adds a thicker layer of contempt for her platform. Perhaps as an avid reader of “dark” romances — the very genre of books that aided in the creation of Sinclair— Griffin has become desensitized to his toxic language and enjoys his rude manner of speaking. The normalization of the use of AI and the way her chatbot speaks to her creates a recipe for unhealthy and overly-reliant relationships.
Overall, we have entered a unique era of humanity, where, somehow, in progressing technologically, we are stumbling backwards into pure social chaos. AI is taking the form of a weapon of mass anti-intellectual destruction in educational spaces, where it is being used as the reading material and utilized for writing.
In 2026, we are replacing human connection— something that is vital to society, love and kinship— with robot slop.
Human connection cannot be replaced with these fictional characters and programmed chatbots. That being said, the fact that many are attempting to do so is quite alarming. In the midst of a "loneliness epidemic", we are further self-isolating. In vast numbers, we are consciously choosing something that can only simulate emotional connection based on technical research, over real, raw human connection.
To invest ourselves this deeply into AI is to, yes, aid in its monetary funding, but also whilst actively tearing apart historical practices and the connections they produce. To shove money down the throats of the rich, like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg— the former who has been notorious for using his money to support Trump’s government via his growing platform thanks to his hand in his growing AI investments. To invest in these figures of corruption, is to help them burn down forests to build data centers. To drain humans of their shared humanity.
To shoot ourselves in the foot.
I raise you this question: How can an AI write— specifically, write romance —if it cannot feel what it is to yearn or to be in love? How can we consume the media AI pumps out when that work is but an attempt to mimic vulnerability and human connection?
I do not mean to condemn anyone or disregard the possibility of a deeper issue behind these fascinations. It is a type of addiction. A need to fill the void of loneliness. However, this void will only widen more if it is not filled with something real. Human connection is the only tactile aid to this problem. If a connection with a human being is not the cure to this gaping hole of emptiness, I’m not sure what is.
This article is a part of our Opinions section and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gauntlet editorial board.
