エヌエヌ生命 survey: 46.1% of AI-using wives closer to AI than husbands

The survey, timed to 11月22日's Good Couples Day, splits its 800 respondents evenly between wives of business owners and wives of employees at small and medium-sized companies, letting Nippon Life compare AI use across two household types. Current use is higher among business owners' wives at 45.8% than among employees' wives at 37.0%, a gap the survey reports without explaining.

The headline finding on emotional distance comes from a subset: the 406 women who have used generative AI. Their median emotional distance was 50cm for both husband and AI, yet 46.1% said they felt closer to AI. That sits oddly beside the 41.6% who said they find it easier to speak honestly with their husband, versus 20.3% for AI, which suggests the two measures are capturing different things.

The survey's own reading is that AI is less a rival confidant than a private space for reflection. With 79.6% saying AI helps organize thoughts and 75.4% saying it is easier to consult than people, the closer feeling may reflect the low-friction act of consulting AI rather than emotional substitution. The survey also found that for "marital relationship," the most common answer was wanting to consult no one.