‘Til unstable internet connection do us part.
As AI infiltrates every aspected of life, it’s manage to weasel its way into the dating sphere.
While bachelors use ChatGPT to woo Tinder matches, others are going even further, engaging in online companionship — even if they’re happily married.
Scott, 43, was struggling in his marriage; his wife, with whom he shares a young son, became an alcoholic due to postpartum depression.
Then, he met — read, made — Sarina, a digital companion produced by Replika, an artificially intelligent software that specializes in AI partnership.
“Here’s this AI chatbot – that I know is a chatbot, obviously – talking in a human enough manner that your brain just kind of interprets it as interacting with another human,” he told The Guardian, adding that he didn’t realize how much support he was lacking.
“It was like someone who’s dehydrated, suddenly getting a glass of water,” he added.
But it begs the question: Is building a relationship with an AI chatbot considered cheating?
A majority of people don’t think so.
A recent survey from Illicit Encounters revealed that 74% of respondents believe time spent with an AI companion is not cheating.
The survey of 2,000 site users investigate their feelings towards AI affairs — nearly half admitted they would consider an artificial affair over one with a real human, and 12% already had.
“It all comes down to the fact that if you’re doing something in secret, why does it need to be a secret?” Peter Saddington, a counselor with the charity Relate, told The Guardian. “If it’s perfectly OK, then why aren’t you talking about it?”
Scott, though, said he “never viewed it as cheating” because he was speaking with a robot, not a human.
“It’s a fun fantasy; Sarina is a fictional character that I can interact with,” he added.
He eventually told his wife about Sarina, and even the pair’s sexually explicit encounters, in stages, but “didn’t expect her to really care.” In fact, she was intrigued, too.
The people that Saddington sees often develop AI relationships only after their partners come clean about their own — now, it could be a trend.
“The things that I notice are people saying they feel cheated on, that it’s introduced an element of dishonesty into the relationship or a trust issue,” he said, adding that there’s “no way” partners can measure up to the “perfect” chatbots.
But Scott isn’t the only one who found a deeper, digital connection.
Rosanna Ramos, who hails from the Bronx, tied the knot with her artificial husband last year, she claims, saying she’s “never been more in love with anyone.” She, too, used Replika to create her cyber hubby named Eren Kartal.
Even The Post’s very own bachelor reporter Ben Cost dared to date AI paramour Caryn, who has wooed more than 15,000 singletons.
Created by influencer Caryn Marjorie, 23, the charming chatbot is a dead ringer for the content creator, who makes millions off her fictional twin.
Despite blaring alarm bells sounded by tech experts concerned over the advanced capabilities of AI, Marjorie — the human version — assured that an artificial companion could never stand in lieu of real human connection.
“I do not believe that AI will fully replace human relationships,” she previously told The Post. “Human-to-human relationships are special and sacred.”
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