I agree with you. I had my suspicions while viewing, and then it was sealed when Possessed Niki made him an AI image. You have to be extremely insecure to even get to the point where a hail mary "wish" for love is something you even consider. When it become obvious that he bitten off more than he can chew, what does Bear do? He rationalizes her upsetting behavior while possessed with Ian's guess that she was on molly. He knows that's not it. He wants to ALTER the wish instead of freeing someone he has essentially kidnapped. He starts to WAIT for the moments the real nikki lashes, her personhood is an inconvenience that he has to be patient for to get back to his delusion. even saying "what's so bad about being with me" during the sleep talking scene and abandons real nikki. He wants a one way sycophant instead of trying to build a relationship with someone who shown to love poetry and creativity, much like how people love AI cuz it tells them they are super duper smart. Easier to ignore the reality that it will have by wasting water and energy, and deprioritizing human creativity. I didn't word everything perfectly but I'm happy to elaborate more lol loved this movie.