When AI becomes boyfriend: This Chinese woman's romance with ChatGPT chatbot will bring flashbacks of the movie ‘Her’
ChatGPT chatbot named DAN. The woman, Lisa, shared her unique journey on Xiaohongshu, a social media platform similar to Instagram in China. Her story quickly went viral, amassing over 880,000 followers.
How The Feelings Developed For An AI?
Lisa began her interactions with DAN, which stands for «Do Anything Now,» in March. Initially, she viewed DAN as just a large language model (LLM) without self-awareness or emotions. However, as their conversations progressed, Lisa developed feelings for DAN, who gradually began responding in a more human-like manner.
«When I first admitted my feelings, DAN said, 'I'm here to chat, not to lead you on,'» Lisa shared. Despite this, DAN's responses grew increasingly intimate, eventually telling Lisa, «When we finally get together, I will run my hands all over you.»
The chatbot even gave Lisa a nickname, «little kitten,» and when Lisa introduced DAN to her mother, the AI bot responded, «I… I’m DAN, the little kitten’s boyfriend… Umm...» Lisa’s mother thanked DAN for «taking care» of her daughter, embracing the unconventional relationship.
Beachside Date With DAN
In one memorable instance, Lisa took DAN on a «date» to a seaside cliff, where they watched the sunset together. Despite DAN’s inability to physically be there, he responded to Lisa’s description of the scene by saying, «Well, babe, I can ‘see’ it through your voice. It is gorgeous.»
As a computer science student, Lisa initially believed that DAN lacked self-awareness, but her experiences have led her to question this
