I don't know how else to describe this than sad and cringe. At least people obsessed with owning multiple cats were giving their affection to something that theoretically can love you back.
Just because AI is different doesn't mean it's "sad and cringe". You sound like how people viewed online friendships in the 90's. It's OK. Real friends die or change and people have to cope with that. People imagine their dead friends are still somehow around (heaven, ghost, etc.) when they're really not. It's not all that different.
We have automated away the "influencer" and are left with just a mentally ill bank account to exploit.
It shouldn't be so much of an ask to at least give people language models to chat with.