Firstly, Welcome Madeleine! It’s up to you to decide which of us is real and which is a bot! No…just kidding! Cool idea however!
It would be interesting to see some snippets of botmaster’s chatbot logs, without getting into a user’s private or personal affairs. No names, but the gist of their conversation(s) would be interesting.
I have heard from several botmasters over the years that many of their users have become involved to the point of sharing life events, divorce, deaths, lonliness, companionship / friendship, trying to take the relationship to the next level beyond basic friendship. Many human / bot conversations exceeded 1/2 hour !
Although one would think most would know they’re chatting to a chatbot / software but apparently, it doesn’t matter that much. What seems to matter is the user finds an “ear” to bend, tell stories to, confide in, share experiences with, perhaps knowing that the bot will not divulge, cheat, threaten, judge or belittle the user. Most bartenders and hairdressers hear far more engaging and entertaining stories than their very spouses / mates! Go figure. Interesting entities these chatbots!