‘AI situationships’: What is the dating trend set to define 2026?

The course of true love never did run smooth, granted, but considering the increasingly depressing glossary of dating terms in our digital age, it’s hard not to be worried or feel disillusioned.

From “cloaking” to “Shrekking” via “pocketing”, new words and trends are routinely popping up to describe the evolving dating landscape. And 2026 has a doozy of a trend in store for us, courtesy of AI and its growing encroachment in our daily lives.

According to French dating app happn, which matches users based on locations where they've crossed paths, the trends set to “redefine the dating scene in 2026” include an unnerving one: the rise of the “AI situationship.”

For those of you who don’t know, a situationship is a romantic and / or sexual relationship that is not formal. In other words, a relationship without the commitment.

Considering our increased reliance on AI, happn predicts that this will become more prelavent when it comes to people using chatbots as “a form of emotional training” or “emotional mirrors, spaces for dialogue and attentive listening”.

Based on happn’s report, 41 per cent of UK respondents said they'd be fine with their partner having a close relationship with an AI companion; 43 per cent said the prospect would make them feel uncomfortable; while 16 per cent would consider it emotional cheating.

"AI offers a sense of certainty and companionship, something that can be hard to find in a dating world full of mixed signals and emotional burnout", says happn's dating expert Claire Rénier. "AI situationships are such a new phenomenon that many couples are still learning to navigate the presence of AI within their relationship. For many, there is something unsettling about knowing that your partner feels the need to look elsewhere for emotional security.”

Rénier continues: "If your partner is turning to a digital companion for support, it’s only natural to feel as if there is an intimate part of their life where you’re not welcome. While an AI can teach people how to love, real love is always built on human imperfection. While some daters may find AI to be a useful tool for discovering their love languages, AI can’t ever replace the messy, occasionally uncomfortable, but wholly genuine connection that you can only find with another human.”

"Dating is already complex and there is a fine line between help and dependence: if AI can teach people how to love, they will still need to relearn how to love without it."

From Rénier’s lips to singletons’ ears.

Less troubling are other trends for 2026 highlighted by happn, including the rise of “sex care”, which refers to sex considered as a “form of wellbeing”, and daters reportedly set to reconnect with more genuine and offline romantic gestures. As opposed to DMs and “ZIP coding”.

Maybe there’s hope yet...