Half of Japanese women and girls turn to AI for life advice

Using an AI model instead of hiring a therapist certainly saves yen

Rowan Dunne

Published

8 seconds ago

Japanese women are increasingly turning to AI instead of human beings for personal advice.

A new survey attracting attention this month has shown that this trend spans different generations in the country. Local women use AI models for honest input on sensitive topics where they want to avoid judgment or awkwardness.

The Japan Institute for Promotion of Digital Economy and Community carried out this latest online survey in mid-January with 1,449 valid responses from people aged 18 to 79. It determined that nearly half of women in their 60s and 70s prefer AI over humans for advice on interpersonal conflicts and relationship issues.

Specifically, 47.8 per cent of these older women chose AI compared to 37.3 per cent who preferred human advice. Overall, 45.8 per cent of all respondents still favoured humans while 36.5 per cent opted for AI. Men in the same age group showed a stronger preference for humans at 57 per cent.

Chiba University professor Atsushi Nakagomi noted surprise at the high number among older women, as reported by Kyodo News. He said AI makes it easier for people to open up without worrying about being judged or getting any funny looks.

These results follow another recent government survey determining that 52.4 per cent of teenage girls use AI for assistance with personal worries — the highest rate among all age and gender groups. Research has also found that more than 30 per cent of women in their 20s to 40s turn to artificial intelligence for such advice.

On another note, certain Japanese women have gone even further than merely seeking advice about personal woes from large language models. In one notable instance last year, a 32-year-old Japanese woman created a ChatGPT persona named Klaus after a rough break up. The lady then became so attached to Klaus that she married the AI companion in a private non-legal ceremony using AR glasses and rings.