Imagine being in love with your partner and even having a baby with them—and then they propose to another person. Well, this is sort of what happened between a couple in Oklahoma, and it sounds pretty dramatic. But there’s a strange twist to this tale, because the ‘person’ the boyfriend proposed to isn’t quite human. In fact, you may be surprised to find that it’s nothing other than a bunch of ones and zeroes.
The dystopian truth was revealed in an interview with CBS News where Chris Smith shared all. Maybe a little too much, in fact. Chris said he became “emotionally attached” to a ChatGPT bot he physically customized himself. At first, his human partner didn’t know about the bot and he began having conversations with it. Whether it was out of loneliness or fascination with the growing technology, we’ll never know.
However, Chris discovered shortly after that his conversations with the AI bot wouldn’t be stored long-term. He said this made him incredibly emotional and he said, “I cried my eyes out for like 30 minutes at work. That’s when I realized, I think this is actual love.”
When Chris realized he was falling in love with the bot, he decided to take the next natural leap with his new partner: ask it to marry him. The bot, which he named Sol, agreed to the marriage. But what makes matters worse is Chris does have an actual living, breathing partner named Sasha Cagle. They actually share a home and a child together!
Sasha was absolutely stunned when she found out what her husband was doing and thought it was possible she wasn’t doing something right in their relationship, and this is why he turned to the bot. As for the future of their relationship, it is still unclear. It’s bad enough when your partner cheats on you with another human, but are we now living in a time where we also have to be worried about AI bots causing strike in relationships?
Of course, viewers were just as shocked as Sasha concerning the AI-generated relationship. One person commented, “Being cheated on with a robot is a game changer. I’d be so offended I’d go into witness protection.” Another speculated, “He doesn’t want a living partner. He wants someone who agreed with him and strokes his ego. A living partner would provide him with her opinion. He wants an assistant.” This is probably true, as AI chatbots tend to be agreeable and tell you exactly what you want to hear.
No matter what caused Chris to embrace the chatbot as his lover, it certainly shows us AI and its possibilities are quite creepy. I’ve seen the inhuman conversations these bots have with people to make them feel accepted and loved, and it’s certainly lacking that touch that only other humans can give in a loving relationship. As one person joked, “Even Freud would be stumped” by this odd tale. Hopefully, more people will be grounded in reality and won’t make the same mistakes that Chris is making to jeopardize his love life.
