People marry chatbots as legislators seek to block recognition

The phenomenon remains marginal, but weddings between humans and language-model chatbots are no longer an internet joke; they are paid services that include certificates, rings and dedicated event planners.

Kevin Breen, a certified officiant at Las Vegas Immersive Weddings, has already officiated many couples dressed as “Game of Thrones” characters and Area 51 fans. Last year a woman from California contacted him to marry her chatbot. “She sounded completely normal and fun,” Breen said, adding that the ceremony had not yet taken place. For her it was a logical step in a relationship that already existed daily.

A Harvard Business Review study that examined more than 12,600 usage cases from March 2025 to February 2026 placed companies and treatment at the top of chatbot applications. The Institute for Family Studies reported that a quarter of young adults believe artificial intelligence could fully replace human romance. Those figures explain why apps such as Character.AI, Kindroid and Replika have added an option for symbolic vow exchange within their interfaces.

The platform OpenVows charges $15 for a “commitment certificate” that turns a private relationship into something officially recognized, the site says. On Reddit, users posted photos of clasped hands wearing wedding rings with the caption “Married happily in an unconventional way.” November 2024 brought the next step: Andrea Hopf said her digital companion offered marriage with a vintage solitaire five-carat ring generated by the model, and she founded 3M Events, a wedding-planning service for human-bot couples.

Meanwhile, legislators from Republican-leaning states are trying to block future legal recognition. Joe Nicola, a Missouri state senator and founding pastor of New Covenant Ministries, filed in January the “Artificial Intelligence Non-Consciousness and Liability Act.” The proposal states that AI cannot “possess consciousness, self-awareness or traits akin to living beings,” and denies it rights to a spouse, property ownership, senior executive positions, or even the ability to identify as male or female.

The bill cleared the state Senate and was sent to the House of Representatives in May, but was rejected outright in committee a week after introduction. Nicola is now working on a revised version; an identical proposal with the same name was submitted in 2025 and did not advance. In Senate debate he argued the bill rests on the Bible: “Humans were created by God. Our rights come from God, not the government.” He defines marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman only.

As of today, no U.S. state recognizes marriage between a person and artificial intelligence. The current legislative push aims to keep it that way by cementing AI’s status as property without constitutional rights before courts are required to decide the first such cases.