This Is How Much Your Boyfriend Is Spending on AI Girlfriends

[littlemissmartypants]

Romantic AI companion apps have brought in nearly half a billion dollars as users pay for virtual partners, flirting, and digital intimacy.

Written by Jason Nelson
Edited by Guillermo Jimenez

Show me the mony. Image: Unsplash/Decrypt

Jul 13, 2026
People are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on AI girlfriends, and the trend doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

According to data provided to Decrypt by analytics firm Appfigures Intelligence, NSFW and romantic AI companion apps across Apple’s App Store and Google Play have generated 165.3 million downloads and $427.3 million in consumer spending worldwide since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022.

“The rankings are categorized by type and reflect either downloads or gross consumer spending before Apple/Google extract their platform fees, typically 30%,” Head of Insights and Media Relations at analytics firm AppFigures, Randy Nelson, told Decrypt.

According to Nelson, Appfigures identified 214 NSFW and romantic AI companion apps, which generated $162.8 million in consumer spending during the first half of 2026.
Snip...
https://decrypt.co/373395/how-much-your-boyfriend-spending-ai-girlfriends

It's not just AI slop running up the light bill and draining the aquifer.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Contact me for a good time! /nt

[TheProle]

2. I didn't even know I had a boyfriend.

[sakabatou]

3. And yet, there have been plenty of GFE and BFE videos/audio from real people

I’m looking at you, Nijisanji.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. True. But Nijisanji brings it's own baggage to the issue.

[sakabatou]

6. Believe me, I know. Why do you think non-fans call it "Kurosanji"?

I usually get my dark humor about them from Parrot4Chan.

[3catwoman3]

5. Creepy much?

Eewww!

In the link, of those surveyed who partake of this service/option/or whatever the hell you’d call it, 69% of users hide this behavior from their partners. Surprised it’s not 100%.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. I'm guessing that some partners just want to be left alone or have no say so in the matter...

Because they are forced to go along to get along.

Or are they paying for their honey's fun?

[usedtobedemgurl]

14. Some folks are in open relationships and do not hide such things.

My last six or seven relationships were open. Not once was stuff like this hidden. With my last husband, I would just walk by him watching porn. No biggie, but no money was spent.

[struggle4progress]

7. How much is Elaine paying for AI Mitch?

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Unfortunately, she's probably actually slept with the real version. But he may have had to pay her.

They, however, do not have children together.

[chowder66]

10. This is sort of sad. I can see the use of this for some groups of people... but kids need to get out more.

These people are going to expect perfection from real life partners and will end up ruining actual relationships.

[blubunyip]

11. Sad

to think there's a market for this. Predatory scams --like some psychs say "another trap.

[Initech]

12. I can honestly say I've spent $0.00 on AI anything.

[Prairie_Seagull]

13. Hard to extract a lifetime of resources from

from what has to be lower birth rates. Seems that wall street would not like this.

edit- long term that is.