The Guardian is leftist feminist trash and has been for decades.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a computer must be in want of an AI girlfriend.

What the fuck is this shit? Universally acknowledged truth that single men with a computer want an AI girlfriend? Literally mindless drivel.

What exactly do these chatbots do? Well, whatever you like – within the realms of a computer interface

It is definitely not "whatever you like", ChatGPT is heavily moderated and controlled and "whatever you like" is a manufactured clickbait lie.

Another worry is that subservient digital girlfriends might have an impact on attitudes to gender roles in the real world.

Oh god...... every single thing that happens in the world is always "think of the wimminz!". There is this unstated assumption that if men have access to anything they will treat women worse. Of course we gloss over the fact that most male loneliness is directly attributable to female behaviour. Instead we tacitly assume that giving men access to what they want is bad for women, bad for society, etc. etc.

OP is correct that the fear is competition, something that women (and the press) never ever state. Objections to AI girlfriends, prostitution, pornography..... it all stems from competition anxiety, and this is never ever stated because it undermines their virtue signalling position so thoroughly.

“Physical AI robots that can satisfy humans emotionally and sexually will become a stark reality in less than 10 years.” This, according to Vittert, might result in an uptick in divorces. 

Think of the wimminz!

This makes zero sense when you think about it.... if the man is sexually satisfied, he's not going to get an AI sex robot. If he's not sexually satisfied and an AI robot helps, why would he then get a divorce from a woman who wasn't fucking him already?

Maybe it will decrease the number of marriages, but it's not going to increase the number of divorces.

“As the technology gets better, people will soon have AI robots to replace human partners – and they will be able to satisfy men both emotionally and sexually,” Vittert added. “And when that starts to happen, married men with kids will begin to leave their families to embrace their ‘ideal relationships’ with AI girlfriends.”

The implication here is that a man will leave an otherwise happy marriage for a sex robot. Makes zero sense.

While that makes for sensational headline fodder, it’s not really giving men much credit, is it?

Ahhh... classic Guardian.... print something for the sensationalism and then take the moral high ground by criticizing it. Nice.

if you’re thinking you might trade in your current partner for a digital version, I wouldn’t get too excited. Rumour has it that ChatGPT has become very lazy indeed.

So err.... there isn't any threat at all and the whole article was made up fearmongering. Well fucking done Guardian.

Chatting and bonding with pixels on a screen instead of actual women is unhealthy for gender roles but treating men like ATMs without giving them anything in exchange for it isn't?