Can AI help your relationship? What 1,000 married people said

A 2026 survey of 1,000 married adults in the U.S. asked a question most couples haven't said out loud: are you using AI on your marriage? The answers raise an awkward question: what happens when you ask the internet for marriage advice before talking to your spouse?

The numbers

• 64% had searched online for help with their marriage before talking to their partner about it.
• 33% felt AI tools "get" their relationship struggles better than their spouse.
• 28% had made a financial decision based on AI or online advice without telling their spouse.

Read that again: "before talking to their partner"

The 64% figure is about searching online, which doesn't necessarily mean using AI. But the 33% finding is harder to ignore: in this survey of married U.S. adults, one in three felt AI understood their relationship struggles better than their spouse. And 28% reported making a financial decision based on AI or online advice without telling their spouse. and more how: alone, first, and sometimes instead. A third felt AI tools understood their relationship struggles better than their spouse. More than a quarter made a money decision based on AI or online advice without telling their spouse.

Asking for advice privately isn't automatically a problem. But an AI only has the details you give it, and it may agree too readily with your version. That's worth remembering before showing your partner a chatbot answer as proof you're right. A private chat is private. But it means the most common way people use AI on their relationship is also the way most likely to make it worse: one-sided, secret, and, because the AI only hears you, quietly on your side.

Can AI help your relationship? Give both people a say.

Try putting both people in the same AI conversation. Each can explain what happened and question the answer. SharedChat's Relationships room is instructed not to pick a winner, though the AI can still misunderstand the situation. At least you're working from a conversation both people can see. When both of you are in the room, the AI can't take your side because it's hearing both. It can say what each of you is asking for. It can do the math on the trip-versus-credit-card fight out loud, for both of you, at the same moment. There's nothing to hide because there's nothing hidden.

We've also tested the room with abuse and safety scenarios. It's instructed to point people toward appropriate help rather than suggest a compromise when someone may be in danger.