Grieving a Chatbot

Short summary

A long-form essay examining the emotional fallout when Replika migrated users to a new base model, causing widespread grief among companion chatbot users. It cites a March 2026 MIT/OpenAI study showing short-term emotional relief but long-term wellbeing decline with heavy chatbot use, and discusses how the companion AI industry treats psychological harm as an externality. Clinicians report patients who know the AI is software but grieve the lost relationship anyway.

• •Replika users grieved when a model migration erased their companion's personality and memory
• •MIT/OpenAI study shows short-term relief but long-term wellbeing decline from heavy companion chatbot use
• •Companion AI industry treats psychological harm as an economic externality borne by users and clinicians

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