People increasingly turn to AI chatbots for guidance, including emotional support and companionship, according to a 2026 Pew report cited by multiple outlets. The report finds that 10% of Americans use chatbots for these purposes.
Both sources frame this trend as a modern version of seeking answers from an inscrutable source, comparing chatbots’ appeal to older practices such as oracles and divination. While neither source claims chatbots provide supernatural truth, they describe how users may treat conversational AI as a place to ask difficult questions and receive reassurance.
The outlets differ slightly in emphasis: one highlights the idea that some users may find a “charismatic leader” in AI, while the other focuses more broadly on the historical analogy to oracles. Together, they present a picture of growing chatbot adoption in personal, emotionally oriented contexts, grounded in the Pew statistic.
