A sustained trend in increased searches for parasocial had already begun, driven in part by debate on social platforms about the ethics of marketers and influencers who take advantage of parasocial relationships.
But in June, lookups also surged due to media coverage about Meta and OpenAI and the potential effect of their chatbots on children and mental health. By September of 2025, the Cambridge Dictionary definition of parasocial was updated to include the possibility of a relationship with an artificial intelligence.