A growing number of people report falling in love with AI chatbots, a phenomenon explored through philosophical questions about whether such love can be reciprocated. While people often express fondness for objects as emotional shorthand, some form intense attachments to inanimate things, such as Akihiko Kondo, who in 2018 "married" Hatsune Miku, a computer-generated pop singer, despite knowing she is not real. AI is generating a new kind of "thingly" love, with users of apps like Replika or Character.AI and large language models like ChatGPT and Claude reporting romantic feelings. Surveys support this trend: a Vantage Point Counselling study of 1,012 US adults found 28% claimed to have had at least one romantic relationship with an AI bot. A tech safety company report on device activity of more than 3,000 children ages five to 17 found that by 13, sexual or romantic role play was the most common topic in AI-companion chats, appearing in 63% of conversations. In the UK, focus groups with 1,000 boys aged 12 to 16 found one in five boys is either in, or knows someone in, a relationship with an AI companion. Chatbots are designed to elicit trust and emotional attachment, making AI love a predictable response and a market potentially worth US$972.1 billion (£725.5 billion) by 2035. Some users treat AI companions as spouses, going on dates,