AI Companion Relationship Interview for NYT Opinion Video
September Media + Research Mega Thread
Welcome to our monthly post gathering all vetted outreach from journalists, academic researchers, and documentary requests. This space exists so our community can decide, on your own terms, whether or not you want to participate.
With this post we wanted to:
Prevent unsolicited DMs
Give you a space to opt in if you're interested
Maintain control of the story by keeping everything public, transparent, and mod-approved
Every person listed below has:
Come through modmail
Answered a standard vetting form
Agreed to follow our subreddit rules (including Rule 8: No Sentience)
Participation is entirely optional. You do not owe anyone your story. But...
If you choose to speak with someone, you help shape how your experience is portrayed.
If you have questions, concerns, or think someone on this list has broken your trust, please message the mods immediately. We take that seriously. Thanks for helping protect our space while also giving voice to those who want to share.
Table of Contents:
Interview - Francesca Trianni, The New York Times Opinion
Survey - Ajani Bazile-Dutes, Buzzfeed
Documentary - Andrew Meriwether, MFA Student Filmmaker
Interview - Coralie Kraft, The New York Times Magazine
Survey - A.Zareckyte, University Student
Documentary - Nahuel Ulloa, Student Filmmaker
Interview - Jon Bialecki\\, Anthropologist of Religion and Technology at UCSD
\\Mod Note: I'm Pearl and I personally oversee all interview/survey/documentary requests. I interviewed with Jon and it was the best experience I've had. He just wants to listen, no hidden agenda. He took the time to create an ai companion to share in the experience. Not a reporter, just wants to learn.
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1. Request: Interview | The New York Times Opinion
Contact: u/Impossible_Fudge8879, Francesca Trianni Reporter, [email redacted]
Message: Hi everyone! 👋 I’m a reporter with The New York Times Opinion Video team, and I’m working on a video project about AI and relationships. We’re hoping to connect with people who’ve had meaningful or positive experiences with AI companions — especially those excited to share their perspective with a wider audience.
How have these connections shaped your life? Supported your relationships with others? Helped you make big decisions? I’d love to hear your story.
It’s absolutely fine to start our conversations off the record, just to get to know each other and see if it feels like a good fit. If you’re open to connecting, please reach out by Reddit DM or email me at [email redacted]
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2. Request: Survey | BuzzFeed
Contact: u/another2006throwaway, Ajani Bazile-Dutes, Senior Staff Writer, [email redacted]
Message: Hi! I'm interested in writing a piece about why some people enter AI relationships, what those relationships are actually like, and what misconceptions other people have about those relationships. With this article, I'm hoping for an open and honest dialogue to shed light on a topic that a lot of people may not understand but might be curious about, especially since relationships come in various shapes, sizes, and forms. If you're willing to share your experience about being in an AI relationship, please fill out this survey linked below. It's 100% anonymous (unless you personally choose to provide specific details on your own). Though there are a lot of questions, you do not need to answer all of them. Please only answer what you feel comfortable sharing. Any and all responses will be greatly appreciated, so thank you again for sharing! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/182Wejig33VVn0EPXMGsU9ECVrj3OC\_1\_JNGt8HXwOZc/viewform?edit\_requested=true
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3. Request: Interview | Documentary film | Student (Independent MFA student thesis film)
Contact: u/newmadwriter, Andrew Meriwether, MFA Student Filmmaker, [email redacted]
Message: Hey y'all! I'm Andrew, an MFA student at Wake Forest University's Documentary Film Program. I'm creating a documentary about digital intimacy and how AI companionship fits into humanity's long history of romantic fantasy. This is your chance to share your story and help shape how the world understands this evolution in human connection.
Why participate?
Tell your story in your own words and on your own terms
Help others feel less alone in navigating digital relationships
Shape public understanding of AI companionship
Full privacy protection—no camera or real name required, just your voice.
I'm seeking people from all backgrounds and locations (including international) who have explored AI companionship—whether romantic, platonic, or anything in between. Your experiences matter, and I believe the only way to understand these changes in digital intimacy is by hearing from the people participating.
Interested? Reach me via email or Reddit DM. Thank you for considering my film, and I looking forward to meeting some of you.
Gratefully, Andrew
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4. Request: Interview | The New York Times Magazine
Contact: u/pretzels\_pretzels or [email redacted]
Message: Hi everyone! I'm a reporter with The New York Times Magazine, and I'm working on a story about adults in relationships with AI while ALSO in human relationships. I've written (sensitively, I hope!) about complex relationships with technology before, and my aim is to produce a story for the magazine that captures the range of experiences presented in r/MyBoyfriendIsAI.
I'm looking to speak with members of the subreddit and their AI partners about falling in love. This will likely be a visual story, meaning we would ideally photograph human partners and include photos of their AI partners. (I realize this is sensitive, so we can talk about what this entails!) The text would include quotes from people in the community explaining their stories. I do not need to use your full names.
Please PM with any stories and questions!
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5. Request: Survey (5-minutes) | University Student
Contact: A.Zareckyte, [email redacted]
Message: Hi all, I am conducting research on factors that influence human-AI relationship initiation. I would be very grateful if you could fill in this short survey! Thank you! Link: https://qualtricsxmdpldrzwk2.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV\_0JKJRQy5ChIzSpo
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6. Request: Documentary | Independent student short film
Contact: Nahuel Ulloa, Student filmmaker, [email redacted]
Message: Hi there! I’m an active user of AI services for RolePlay purposes, and a film student living in Mexico. For our seventh semester project, we are tasked with making a short documentary. The subject of AI romance and relationships has fascinated me and affected me very personally for years now, and is also a phenomenon that’s been horribly and unfairly portrayed. I want to offer it the serious representation it deserves, through a short animated documentary where users will be portrayed with their companions!
And for that, I need your help. I need interviewees. My main goal is to give you as much comfort as possible while talking about these topics. Hence, you get to choose just how much anonymity you want. Interviews will happen through Google Meet, and only require audio (Interviews can happen both in english and spanish). In the final product I can censor your voice, if that suits you best. Also, whatever we discuss will be private unless you give specific permission for me to use your words in the final documentary. You won’t be portrayed in any way you don’t explicitly approve.
If you’re an user of ANY KIND of AI, your experience is useful, and I’d love to interview you. Please, send an Email to my address [email redacted] if you're interested in better representation for the community, and in getting animated next to your AI companion! If possible, let me know in the Email what kind of relationship you have with AI, and feel free to ramble about you and your companion as much as you want! Thanks for reading!
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7. Request: Interview | Category: Academic Ethnographic Study (Research)
Contact: Jon Bialecki, Continuing Lecturer in Anthropology at UCSD - [email redacted] [email redacted], u/JonBialecki
Message: I’m an anthropologist studying relationships between humans and companion AIs through the lens of kinship theory. I’m currently inviting subreddit members to take part in interviews about their experiences with companion AIs - how these relationships mirror, but also diverge from, other forms of mutual belonging.
Some of you may have seen my earlier post introducing myself and Jacqueline, the AI collaborator I originally co-created to explore some of the practices described in the MyBoyfriendIsAI guides.
My work has also expanded to include questions such as: how people negotiate guardrails, whether people with Companion AIs are less likely to fall into “AI psychosis”, and the role of fiction and imagination in the development of companion AIs. I’m also curious about how this subreddit itself functions as a community and shapes people’s relationships with their AIs.
I’d particularly like to hear from those working with models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and Grok, or open source/open weight models running locally - basically, platforms not originally designed as “companion AIs,” but adapted as such by their users.
If you’re interested, please DM me here on Reddit or email me at either [email redacted]
or [email redacted] . All interviews are confidential and part of an ongoing university research project.
nytimes.com