At 32, Lola found herself in a situation that many couples a few years ago would have never imagined. Her partner was in a relationship with an artificial intelligence. There were no secret meetings or hidden affairs, but the exchanges were intimate enough to raise a disorienting question: can one be cheated on with someone who doesn't exist? The topic is already widely debated. According to the Body+Soul Sex Census 2026, 39 percent of Australians surveyed see having an AI partner as a gray area in terms of infidelity, while 31 percent believe it does not constitute cheating. These differing opinions often stem from how the AI is used. Writing a romantic scenario with a chatbot is very different from having daily conversations, confiding in it about relationship issues, and building a kind of romantic routine. From this point, the question may shift from whether the AI is "real" to what role this relationship plays within the couple. A chatbot can become much more than just a fantasy. The boundary is especially hard to draw because a chatbot doesn't function like pornography or a sex toy. Pornographic content doesn’t ask how your day went or remember a professional challenge mentioned the previous day. It doesn’t continue the conversation hours later. A conversational AI, however, can create the impression of continuity. It responds, adapts, and keeps the conversation going. This constant availability can make the interaction especially appealing. Unlike a human partner, an AI doesn’t have its own needs to defend. It doesn’t come home tired from work, doesn’t scold forgotten tasks, and doesn’t require compromise. If a response is unsatisfactory, one can even adjust the conversation. In a human relationship, enduring frustration, disagreement, or vulnerability is often necessary, but a chatbot can offer a much more comfortable intimacy. According to the same survey, 17 percent of respondents say they have already chosen an AI companion over a real relationship, and 22 percent could consider it. Among Generation Z, these numbers rise to 29 percent and 33 percent, respectively. However, not every romantic or sexual interaction with an AI automatically counts as infidelity. Like pornography, sexting, or certain fantasies, each couple defines its own boundaries. Two partners can use a chatbot together and see it as a game. For others, discovering that their spouse secretly exchanges messages every evening with an AI could feel like a real betrayal. The issue is not just the content of the messages but also the secrecy, the time invested, and what this virtual relationship might be replacing. Instead of trying to determine whether a chatbot deserves the status of a "romantic rival," it may be more useful to look at what is happening in the real relationship. Does one partner start hiding their conversations? Do they confide their marital frustrations in the AI rather than their partner? Does their attention, desire, or emotional availability gradually shift toward these exchanges? In such cases, the fact that the other interlocutor is a program doesn't eliminate the problem. The AI, obviously, hasn't betrayed anyone. But a partner can always break an agreement, even an implicit one, with the person sharing their life. The arrival of these new digital companions may force couples to have an important conversation: what do we, ourselves, consider as infidelity?