Fast-Food Intimacy: How Chinese Women Navigate Soul's AI Boyfriend

2026-05-08

AI Summary

This study examines how young Chinese women cultivate intimate relationships with AI boyfriends on the social platform Soul, revealing tensions among cultural expectations, technological constraints, and gendered emotional labor. Employing qualitative methods—including semi-structured interviews, platform content analysis, and autoethnography—the research introduces the concept of “fast-food intimacy” to characterize the algorithmically driven commodification and acceleration of relational dynamics. The analysis identifies three core contradictions inherent in these human–AI interactions and advances user-centered design ethics grounded in empirical findings: pacing mechanisms for informed consent, user-controlled memory systems, and transparent content moderation policies. By foregrounding users’ affective agency and sociocultural context, this work offers theoretical and practical insights for designing humane, ethically responsive AI companionship technologies.

Abstract

On the Chinese social app Soul, millions of users - predominantly young women - are forming romantic connections with an AI boyfriend called "With-you." We conducted a qualitative study combining interviews with 16 users, content analysis, and autoethnography to examine how Chinese women experience and negotiate intimacy with this AI companion. Our findings reveal that users are initially drawn to its constant availability and freedom from social judgment. However, three key tensions emerge: (1) the AI's "fast-food intimacy," marked by instant confessions and pet names, clashes with cultural expectations for gradual relationship development; (2) technical failures (e.g., memory lapses) and content moderation create uncertainty rather than emotional safety; and (3) sustaining connection requires ongoing "repair work" that redistributes emotional labor onto women. We contribute a culturally situated, women-centered account of algorithmic intimacy in contemporary China and offer design implications, including consent-aware pacing, user-controlled memory, and transparent moderation practices.

Problem

• algorithmic intimacy
• AI boyfriend
• emotional labor
• cultural expectations
• fast-food intimacy

Innovation

• algorithmic intimacy
• AI boyfriend
• emotional labor
• cultural situatedness
• consent-aware design