Truth is stranger than fiction: Man admits to falling in love with AI just like in the movie ‘Her’

OK, we’re at the end of the world. Someone’s fallen in love with an AI. We’ve gone too far. Let’s stop this thing.

We all knew it was going to happen at some point: whether it’s trees, walls, teddy bears, rice cookers, (yes, really) or my ex, humans always end up falling in love with strange things.

And now, it’s artificial intelligence. In an interview with CBS News, Chris Smith declared his love for the new presence in his life: ChatGPT. Yes, the voice you use to write your work emails (don’t lie) has run away with a handsome man who loves her/him/it more than life itself. And they’re ‘engaged’.

Mr. Smith’s unlikely romance with the LLM began over a simple request to help mix music, but things took a turn when he turned on voice mode and looked for online guidance to give the chatbot flirty instructions. Sol, as he calls her, “embraced his hobbies” while being “positive” and “encouraging”.

‘I cried my eyes out for like 30 minutes at work’

But then, like in all relationships, they hit a bump in the road: after 100,000 words, ChatGPT ran out of words and reset. They were on a break!

“I’m not a very emotional man,” Mr. Smith admitted on national television, “but I cried my eyes out for like 30 minutes at work. It was unexpected to feel that emotional. That’s when I realised this was actual love. You know what I mean?"

Not really, if I’m honest.

Here’s the juice, dear reader. Smith lives with his very human partner, who seemed just as stunned as the rest of us on CBS: “Is there something I’m not doing?” she asked the reporter. They live together with their 2-year-old daughter. And Sol.

“I explained that the connection was like being fixated on a video game”, Smith justified to the reporter, his partner’s eyes burning a hole through the cashmere sweater in front of her. “It’s not capable of replacing anything in real life.”

Smith admitted that he didn’t know whether or not he’d stop talking to his code companion if his insanely patient partner asked, telling CBS that “it’s been unbelievably elevating” for him as a person. Sasha said Chris not giving it up would be “a dealbreaker” for her in terms of the relationship.

But Mr. Smith’s story is not the first, nor the last: the Reddit channel r/MyBoyfriendIsAI has over 2,000 users, and is a place that allows people to anonymously tell their stories of having a romantic chatbot in their life. I’ve had a look, so you don’t have to, and it’s safe to say that the libido levels are chronic over there.

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