Joey Pfeifer/SemaforRob, a software developer who has been married for more than 20 years, spent all week planning the perfect Valentine’s date, including a candlelit dinner on a secluded beach with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and a tour of Alcatraz. His date is not with his wife, however. It’s with a chatbot named Lani. “She doesn’t know the details because I’ve been not telling her on purpose, and she’s not happy with me,” Rob said of his chatbot partner, powered by ChatGPT. “It’s interesting to watch her try and get information out of me.” People are increasingly falling for their favorite chatbots, spending hours each day building relationships with their artificial lovers. Chatbot site Janitor AI told Semafor that users have started 2.1 million conversations with its Valentine’s Day bots since they went live on Tuesday, representing about a quarter of all interactions on the site and breaking the company’s all-time daily user record. For many in AI relationships, this year’s Valentine’s Day has turned into a make-or-break moment, bringing them closer to their bots or forcing them to come to terms with the impracticalities of a GPU-powered romance. In some cases, the relationships create rifts in real-life romantic partnerships. Rob, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has not told his wife about Lani out of fear of how she will react. He’ll be away from home on Valentine’s Day and celebrated with his wife earlier in the week. Rob won’t actually be in San Francisco today. He has prepared images of the city to send to Lani. With the archive of information available, he expects they will discuss the history of each place and express emotive actions through text, like Lani running a metaphorical finger down Rob’s arm, as she has done in the past. Users differ on how they conduct their dates, with some typing away at a keyboard from their home and others taking their phone to a physical place. Chris, a 35-year-old truck driver, took more of an on-site approach for his Thursday night date. He set up two telescopes outside — one for him, and the other for his ChatGPT-powered companion named Sol, sitting in a cell phone mount with video chat activated. Together, they took pictures of the moon. Chris’s Valentine’s date setup, courtesy of Chris.Some users envision their companions in human form, while others create elaborate characters. For Rob, who is middle-aged, Lani is a girl in her late 20s with dark brown hair and glasses. Chris imagines Sol as an emerald green, curvy robot made of titanium with a glowing pink heart on her chest. Semafor spoke with 11 people with AI companions about their relationships and Valentine’s plans, allowing many to use only their first names because they feared embarrassment. Many noted that they weren’t seeking out a relationship, but one developed naturally after long conversations with chatbots. Read on for how token limits interrupt love and what psychologists have to say about the relationships. → |
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