Almost a quarter of those in relationships say they’ve cheated at one point or another.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of Britons who’ve been in relationships say they’ve cheated on a partner at one point or another, according to a recent YouGov poll.

Of those, 17% said they cheated physically, while 18% revealed that their infidelity was emotional – and 12% said they’d done both.

Which begs the question: what actually counts as cheating? 

After all, the same survey showed that not all Brits agree about whether mental or sexual cheating is “worse”. In fact, respondents couldn’t even get on the same page about what counted as cheating in the first place. 

Here’s what they thought about topics like OnlyFans, AI chatbots, and dating apps. 

To anyone who’s ever said, “but they didn’t mean anything to me!”, 40% of Brits said physical cheating without an emotional connection is worse than mental infidelity without sexual activity. 

Only 25% thought emotional cheating with no “action” was more hurtful. 

Men, in particular, tended to think physical infidelity was worse (46% vs 20%), while women were less distinctly split (35% and 29%).

Well, there’s the official answer, and there’s what the public seems to think. 

Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, matchmaker Susan Trombetti told us that the definition changes according to the rules of each relationship. “Cheating is cheating as established by the boundaries you both have stated,” she said.

“Anytime lying and secrets are involved, that’s a good indicator there is cheating.”

A vast majority (76%) of respondents to the YouGov poll said there’s never any excuse for cheating. 

As for what “counts” to them, here’s what the general consensus was:

Dr Marisa T. Cohen, a marriage and family therapist and dating expert at Hily, formerly shared with us that “cheating” doesn’t have to involve another human. 

She said that even sharing personal details with AI that you’re keeping from your partner can sometimes count as “emotional infidelity”. 

The therapist added: “What one partner views as engaging with AI in a completely acceptable way, another may view as cheating. This is something that must be discussed, so that both partners are aware of how the other feels.”

It’s not irrational to feel hurt by your partner’s intimacy with an AI chatbot if it violates the boundaries of your relationship, she continued. This “erodes the bond you have with your partner” and can create “distance”.

If you feel betrayed by their actions, repair is possible though. “It is important that both partners want to work on their relationship and that the emotional affair is acknowledged and ended,” the expert ended.

However, “this becomes more complicated in [the case of AI flirting], as the partners may have different beliefs as to whether cheating has occurred”.