As AI chatbots grow more advanced, a small but growing number of people around the world are forming deep emotional bonds — and even proposing marriage — to their digital companions. From virtual partners offering emotional support to AI “spouses” providing companionship, these relationships are challenging traditional definitions of love and partnership. But one U.S. lawmaker wants to stop it before it goes too far. In Ohio, Representative Thaddeus Claggett has introduced House Bill 469, a proposal to legally prohibit marriages or domestic unions between humans and AI systems.

The proposed legislation argues that AI systems, no matter how intelligent or emotionally responsive, lack the agency and legal personhood required for marriage. Claggett warns that allowing AI entities to hold spousal rights could open a Pandora’s box of legal complications — from inheritance claims to financial control. “We want to make sure these systems can never be human in their agency,” he stated, emphasizing that legal recognition of AI marriages could undermine the very definition of human relationships in law and society.

While critics view the bill as unnecessary or symbolic, it highlights a growing global debate about the role of AI in emotional and social life. Many users find comfort in AI chatbots, especially as these systems become more lifelike through natural conversation and adaptive emotional feedback. However, experts caution that such intimacy with non-human entities raises questions about consent, emotional dependency, and social isolation. If passed, Ohio’s bill could become the first U.S. law to formally define — and limit — the scope of human-AI relationships, setting a precedent for future AI ethics and governance worldwide.