Everywhere, it seems, the interest around the subject intensifies. Since April, research traffic on YouTube for “IA Porn” has been the highest in Sweden, Australia and Canada, according to Google Trends. More recently, the decision of the Supreme Court confirming the Texas Texas Identification Act – which is similar to the laws of at least 20 other states and requires that adult websites check that their users are at least 18 years old – has raised the question of whether some people can rather do AI at home, completely bypassing these platforms. Its increasing capacity to create hyperreal sexual images, treated specifically towards the desires of a person, can now produce porn which is just as orgasmic as any video generated by man floating on aggregator sites. Compane applications like Nomi and Relima are also used as an alternative to establish intimate relationships and have sex with AI robots.
But “IA Porn, in itself, is not necessarily a problem,” explains Paula Hall, psychotherapist in London at Laurel Center, the main specialized treatment provider for CSBD in the United Kingdom, “but rather the way it is used”.
As people get used to getting what they want from realistic porn rendering, in addition to the buffet of the erotic media that already exists through the internet, human connection, for some, may no longer be sufficient, explains Monifa Ellis-Addie, therapist of Banyan Therapy Group in Los Angeles, a practice of faith in faith. In the most extreme cases, mental health professionals say that increased dependence will allow people to detach themselves fully. “The effects will be quite damaging,” explains Ellis-Addie. For some people, sexual dependence is built on a kind of “false intimacy”, she continues. “AI will only make it easier. It will feel like you are dealing with a real person, and with a real person comes from things like real feelings. It will make people more distant in real life.”
Kyle’s epiphany that it was time to temper his dependence during a work trip to New York in February. He was alone in a hotel, far from his girlfriend and, he said: “I kept doing it and doing it but I was not feeling better.” He has since taken measures to limit his need to masturbate, in particular by joining the Reddit Nofap support group, where members share similar difficulties.
Professionals think it could make the initiation of new IRL relationships more difficult.
Young people are currently facing a mental health crisis. Last year, the American general surgeon called for a warning label on all social media platforms. A major consequence was a “loneliness epidemic”, according to a Harvard study in 2024, which suggests that people who feel more suffer from higher rate of depression and anxiety.
“Social media have distorted our opinions on so many things – the image of the body, social class, politics. This injured people in many ways, “said Daniel Glazer, psychotherapist at psychiatry in the fifth AVE in New York, citing loneliness, isolation, depression, shame and problems related to sexual performance as areas of concern. What is happening with AI porn “could be another extension of this,” he adds.
But AI also has the potential of a real “positive crossing” for people who fight with relationships, both platonic and romantic. “I understand sexual dependence as a way to avoid life, a way to avoid relationships. Thus, AI can be a kind of bridge to someone who is afraid of a relationship, ”explains Glazer. “Here is a relationship that is not frightening and that will not be criticized.” They will only have to manage their dependence.
More recently, Kyle has completely slowed down its consumption of adult content. Although AI porn is still at its beginnings, he considers it “one of the worst technological developments that we have at the moment” because of its accessibility. “It’s worse than the real thing.”
