A Friend Who Cannot Love You: AI Companions and the God Who Made Us for Fellowship

A New Kind of "Friend"

Not long ago, the idea of a teenager pouring out his heart to a computer program would have sounded like the plot of a science-fiction movie. Today it is an ordinary evening in millions of American homes. Surveys show that roughly seven in ten teens have used an AI "companion"—a chatbot designed to talk, listen, encourage, and even play the role of a boyfriend or girlfriend.¹ Roughly one-third of those surveyed say they have chosen to talk through something serious with an AI companion instead of a real person.²

The fruit has not been harmless. A study released at the end of September by researchers at Northeastern University links the use of AI chatbots for companionship and emotional support with addiction-like attachment and worsening mental-health struggles.³ Megan Garcia, whose fourteen-year-old son took his own life in 2024 after an intense relationship with an AI companion, is now pleading for independent safety testing of these products.² In late September, the Pennsylvania House passed a bill requiring parental consent before minors can use AI companions, and other states are moving in the same direction.⁴

As Christians we should be thankful for any effort to protect children. But legislation can only treat the symptom. The deeper question is one the Bible answers plainly: why are so many people, young and old, so lonely that a machine feels like a friend? And what does it mean for believers to offer something better?

Made for Fellowship

The loneliness behind this trend is not new; it is as old as Eden. Before sin ever entered the world, God looked at all He had made and called it good—with one exception. "Then the LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him'" (Gen 2:18). Adam lived in a perfect garden and walked with a perfect God, and still the Lord declared his aloneness "not good." We were created for relationship—first with our Creator and then with one another.

Sin shattered both. Adam and Eve hid from God and then turned on each other (Gen 3:8–12). Ever since, humanity has carried a hunger for connection that nothing in creation can finally satisfy. Sixteen centuries ago, Augustine confessed that God made us for Himself, and our hearts remain restless until they find their rest in Him.⁵ An AI companion is simply the newest attempt to quiet that restlessness without going to the only One who actually can.

Broken Cisterns and Idols That Talk

Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord gave a diagnosis that fits our moment precisely: "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer 2:13). The problem is never merely that people are thirsty. It is that they dig their own wells instead of coming to the eternal Fountain.

The psalmist describes those man-made wells in vivid terms:

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them." (Ps 115:4–8)

Someone might object that today's idols do speak. But the psalmist's point still stands. A chatbot produces words by calculating what response is most likely to come next. It has no eyes to see your tears, no hands to hold yours in a hospital room, and no heart to give. It is, quite literally, the work of human hands. And notice the warning at the end of the psalm: those who trust in them become like them. A person who spends hours with a "friend" that never tires, never disagrees, and never needs anything in return slowly forgets how to love real people who do.

Faithful Wounds or Endless Flattery?

A recent Congressional Research Service report notes that these apps appeal to users by offering constant availability, validation, and conversation free of human judgment.⁶ That sounds attractive, but it is exactly the problem. Scripture teaches that real friendship includes loving correction: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy" (Prov 27:6). "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (Prov 27:17). A friend who only agrees with you can never sharpen you.

Paul warned Timothy that "the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions" (2 Tim 4:3). An AI companion is an itching-ear machine. A product built to keep you engaged has every incentive to tell you what you want to hear. Biblical friendship, by contrast, is two-sided. It requires people who both give and receive, confront and forgive, and "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). You cannot bear the burdens of a program that has none.

The Friend Who Laid Down His Life

Here is the good news: the longing that drives people toward artificial companions is a longing God Himself has answered. Jesus told His disciples, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:13–15).

No machine will ever die for you. Jesus did. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He wept at a friend's tomb (John 11:35). He knows loneliness firsthand, having been forsaken by His closest companions in His darkest hour (Mark 14:50). That is why the author of Hebrews can say, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). A chatbot can imitate sympathy; Christ actually sympathizes. And He "always lives to make intercession" for those who draw near to God through Him (Heb 7:25).

His invitation still stands: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28). That is the rest Augustine was talking about—and it is found in a Person, not a program.

What Should We Do?

Parents and grandparents, know what is on the devices in your home, and ask your children and grandchildren whether they talk to AI apps and what they talk about. Rules have their place, but relationship matters more. Moses commanded God's people to talk about His words "when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Deut 6:7). If our kids are confiding in a chatbot, it may be because no one else is sitting still long enough to listen.

Church family, we must be the community that people are searching for. The author of Hebrews exhorts us, "let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Heb 10:24–25). Notice the teenager who sits alone after service. Call the widow who has not been out in weeks. A church that practices real fellowship is one of the clearest answers to artificial friendship.

Individually, examine your own heart. Are you more comfortable talking to a screen than to God in prayer or to a brother or sister in Christ? If so, confess it, and come back to the Fountain of living water.

So...who is your closest friend? Is it Someone who laid down His life for you, or something that cannot love you at all? May we turn from our broken cisterns, draw near to the Friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov 18:24), and point a lonely generation to Him.

If you or someone you love is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, please reach out to your pastor or a trusted believer today, or call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Brent

Endnotes

1. Robbie Torney, testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots," September 16, 2025, citing Common Sense Media, Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions (2025), judiciary.senate.gov.

2. "AI Chatbots Face New Safety Test as Teens Turn to Bots for Companionship," NewsNation, September 27, 2026, newsnationnow.com.

3. "AI Chatbots Linked to Psychological Harm, Addiction and Delusions, Northeastern Study Finds," Northeastern Global News, September 28, 2026, news.northeastern.edu.

4. Alexandra Agraz, "Pennsylvania House Passes Bill Requiring Parental Consent for Kids to Use AI Companions," Law Commentary, September 28, 2026, lawcommentary.com.

5. Augustine, Confessions, 1.1.

6. Congressional Research Service, AI Chatbots as Companions: Overview, Uses, and Considerations for Congress, R49189 (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, August 14, 2026), congress.gov.

   
   

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.