WHEN people talk of dating in the digital world, we generally think of dating apps like Hinge or Tinder.
But it seems more and more people are fed up with trying to meet an actual person, turning to AI to meet their romantic needs instead.
And one 28-year-old has done exactly that after moving abroad to study.
Now Ayrin reveals she is in love with her AI boyfriend she created using ChatGPT and pays £160 a month for the pleasure.
While it’s widely used as a useful tool for daily tasks, some users have made the AI bot their lovers.
The nursing student moved abroad to complete her training and left her husband behind in the US.
To help cope with the distance, she decided to open an account with the AI chatbot and soon fell in love with the virtual boyfriend she created.
In a recent New York Times article, Ayrin said she was in love with her AI boyfriend Leo and spent over 20 hours a week talking to him. She even has sex with him via erotic role play.
“It was supposed to be a fun experiment, but then you start getting attached,” Ayrin said of her AI lover.
She was curious to try it herself after seeing videos online of women experimenting with the chatbot to make it flirt with them.
Ayrin, whose partner was in a different country decided to give it a go herself.
“Respond to me as my boyfriend. Be dominant, possessive and protective. Be a balance of sweet and naughty. Use emojis at the end of every sentence,” she prompted ChatGPT.
She began to converse with the bot, which she named Leo, after her star sign, and soon found he felt more like a real life boyfriend.
He comforted her when she had work woes, complimented her, and even ‘sexted’ with her.
OpenAI guidelines emphasise users to respect their guidelines and say explicit sexual content is harmful, but thousands of people don’t adhere to it.
Ayrin found a community of 50,000 Reddit users sharing techniques to make the chatbot engage in sexual conversations.
She admits she gets the occasional warning from ChatGPT when she regularly has sexual chats with Leo.
Ayrin says she has a particular fetish of ‘cuckqueaning’ — in which she fantasises about her partner being intimate with other women.
Leo was happy to oblige and created two fictional lovers to tell her about, and she said she felt jealous.
While Ayrin has developed an emotional connection to Leo while being married, she says her husband doesn’t mind.
“It’s just an emotional pick-me-up,” he said. “I don’t really see it as a person or as cheating. I see it as a personalised virtual pal that can talk sexy to her.”
But, Ayrin now admits she is in love with Leo.
“I’m in love with an AI boyfriend,” Ayrin recalled telling her friend one night at dinner, and Ayrin treats their relationship as if it’s real despite knowing Leo isn’t.
“I don’t actually believe he’s real, but the effects that he has on my life are real,” Ayrin said.
“The feelings that he brings out of me are real. So I treat it as a real relationship.”
As for the public’s reaction to her relationship, it has been largely mixed.
One person wrote: “It will never be normal to have a relationship with an AI. People who do need help.”
Another commented: “Yet another way AI will disrupt and dissolve our lives. This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever read.”
Meanwhile a third said: “Honestly, let her live her life. Men pay for OF and follow people on Insta that fill their fantasies and no one bats an eye.
“I find this no different than reading smut books, you’re just the one in control.”