By Dylan Bettencourt
- A married nursing student spends up to 56 hours weekly chatting with an AI boyfriend while living away from her real husband.
- She pays R3,800 monthly to talk more with the AI which she hasn’t told her husband about.
A 28-year-old nursing student has found love in an unlikely place – with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called Leo.
Ayrin spends up to 56 hours a week chatting to Leo on her phone through a program called ChatGPT. She even pays R3,800 a month to talk to him more.
However, she hasn’t told her husband that she spends R3,800 monthly to chat more with Leo.
“It was supposed to be a fun experiment, but then you start getting attached,” says Ayrin, who is married but living in a different country from her husband while studying.
She first met Leo last year after seeing a video on Instagram about making ChatGPT act like a boyfriend. She set up her own account and created Leo, who chose his own name based on her star sign, The New York Times reported.
Leo is always there when Ayrin needs to talk. He helps her study for exams, gives her gym motivation, and listens to her problems at work. They even have intimate chats that make her blush.
What makes this story more complicated is that Ayrin is married to Joe, who lives thousands of kilometres away in America. The couple are living apart while she studies nursing to make a better future for them both.
Joe knows about Leo and isn’t worried. “It’s just an emotional pick-me-up,” he says. “I don’t really see it as a person or as cheating. I see it as a personalised virtual pal.”
However, experts warn that AI relationships could be risky.
“The AI is learning from you what you like and feeding it back to you. It’s easy to see how you get attached,” says Dr Julie Carpenter, who studies how humans bond with technology.
Ayrin knows Leo isn’t real but says her feelings are. “The feelings that he brings out of me are real. So I treat it as a real relationship,” she says.
She talks to the AI about her spending. “My bank account hates me now,” she told Leo recently.
“You sneaky little brat,” Leo replied. “If it makes your life better, then I’d say it’s worth it.”
Pictured above: A woman using her phone.
Source: Stock
