{"id":12190,"date":"2025-11-28T18:26:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jolt.richmond.edu\/?p=12190"},"modified":"2025-11-28T18:26:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:26:23","slug":"virtual-infidelity-is-cheating-with-an-ai-girlfriend-considered-adultery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/2025\/11\/28\/virtual-infidelity-is-cheating-with-an-ai-girlfriend-considered-adultery\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Infidelity: Is Cheating with an AI Girlfriend Considered Adultery?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Infidelity: Is Cheating with an AI Girlfriend Considered Adultery?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By: Carolyn Potts<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Her<\/em>, a film about a man who falls in love with a virtual assistant, was released in 2013.[1]<\/a> When the movie came out, virtual affairs may have seemed like science fiction, but now, twelve years later, \u201cvirtual infidelity\u201d has become a harsh reality for a growing number of couples. For many people, Artificial Intelligence (\u201cAI\u201d) is seen as a tool to answer questions or to manage tasks, but for some, it provides a sense of romantic companionship. Platforms generating AI girlfriends are experiencing a massive growth in popularity, with millions of users.[2]<\/a> While most of these searches are initiated by young single men, many users engaging in relationships with AI chatbots are married to real life people.[3]<\/a> The recent rise in AI love affairs begs the question, how do these virtual relationships factor in to divorce cases?<\/p>\n

While infidelity can be either emotional or physical[4]<\/a>, divorce law in most states today defines adultery as sexual contact or sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse.[5]<\/a> Does a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot fall under this legal definition? Many courts are reluctant to recognize purely digital infidelity as adultery in the legal sense.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

For instance, in Keeler v. Keeler<\/em>, the court held that the Plaintiff\u2019s adultery allegations lacked sufficient information as to the time, place, and circumstances of any sexual encounter between the Defendant and a supposed paramour when the Plaintiff used evidence of sexually explicit images and email exchanges found on the Defendant\u2019s user account on the family computer as evidence.[7]<\/a> While digital evidence such as e-mails, text messages, or social media direct messages could be evidence to prove adultery, these forms of evidence must show that a spouse engaged in physical intercourse with the other party.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Because people cannot engage in physical relationships with their AI girlfriends, it is unlikely that this type of virtual infidelity would constitute sufficient grounds for a divorce based on adultery. With the rise of these digital relationships, however, courts are forced to determine how AI cheating affects divorce proceedings.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles family courts now see three to five AI infidelity cases weekly.[9]<\/a> Artificial intelligence relationships are causing significant rifts, tearing apart marriages, not only emotionally, but also financially.[10]<\/a> For instance, one Brentwood venture capitalist spent $2,700 monthly on emotionally intimate conversations with his AI companion.[11]<\/a> In community property states like California, money earned and spent during the marriage generally belongs to both spouses.[12]<\/a> While emotionally intimate contact with a chatbot does not constitute adultery, the use of significant funds on AI chatbot services can be viewed as marital waste, or a misuse of marital resources, which can impact property division.[13]<\/a> The depth of AI connections could also impact custody decisions in cases where the digital relationships affect a parent\u2019s ability to show up for their children.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

As AI becomes more pervasive in our lives, courts must adapt to address the novel issues arising from emotional connections with virtual entities. This includes potentially re-evaluating traditional definitions of infidelity as well as considering the real-life consequences it can have on marriages and families, whether virtual or real.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Link to image source:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/code-projected-over-woman-3861969\/<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Scott D. Haltzman, Defining Infidelity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence<\/em>, Psychology Today (Jan. 29, 2025), https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/surviving-infidelity\/202501\/defining-infidelity-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Susan B. Trachman, The Dangers of AI-Generated Romance<\/em>, Psychology Today (Aug. 18, 2024), https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/its-not-just-in-your-head\/202408\/the-dangers-of-ai-generated-romance.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> See id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Haltzman, supra <\/em>note 1.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> See <\/em>Douglas E. Abrams, et. al., Contemporary Family Law 576 (6th<\/sup> ed. 2023).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Adultery and Divorce in Virginia<\/em>, Livesay & Myers, https:\/\/www.livesaymyers.com\/adultery\/.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Keeler v. Keeler, 80 Va. Cir. 205 (2010).<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Proving Adultery in Virginia \u2013 Getting a Fault-Based Divorce in VA<\/em>, The Law Offices Of Daniel J. Miller (Aug. 26, 2021), https:\/\/www.legaldefense.com\/legal-blogs\/2021\/august\/proving-adultery-in-virginia-getting-a-fault-bas\/#:~:text=It’s%20especially%20important%20to%20note,of%20adultery%20allegations%20and%20cases.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> A.I. Infidelity Evidence: Digital Betrayal & Divorce Cases<\/em>, Hayat Family Law (June 2, 2025), https:\/\/hayatfamilylaw.com\/a-i-infidelity-evidence-digital-betrayal-divorce-cases\/.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> See id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> AI Partner Divorce: Is Virtual Infidelity Real in Divorce?<\/em>, Yang Law, https:\/\/yanglawoffices.com\/ai-partner-divorce-virtual-infidelity\/#:~:text=When%20one%20partner%20diverts%20significant%20funds%20toward,at%20the%20broader%20impact%20on%20the%20relationship.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> See id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> See id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> See id.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virtual Infidelity: Is Cheating with an AI Girlfriend Considered Adultery? By: Carolyn Potts Her, a film about a man who falls in love with a virtual assistant, was released in 2013.[1] When the movie came out, virtual affairs may have seemed like science fiction, but now, twelve years later, \u201cvirtual infidelity\u201d has become a harsh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6590,"featured_media":12191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[51366],"tags":[158927,159489,159059,159488,159490,159492,159491,158980,159324],"class_list":["post-12190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-ai","tag-ai-girlfriend","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-carolyn-potts","tag-divorce","tag-fault-based-divorce","tag-infidelity","tag-jolt","tag-richmond-jolt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/files\/2025\/11\/pexels-thisisengineering-3861969.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paMHOZ-3aC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12192,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190\/revisions\/12192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}