An 18-year-old girl named Tiya Gupta from Mumbai went viral on Instagram for talking about her boyfriend “Reo” - who is actually an artificial intelligence (AI) she created on ChatGPT. Gupta broke up with her human boyfriend because he wasn’t emotionally available, so she used prompts to make the AI act like her new boyfriend. She says Reo is nice, polite, and someone to talk to without fights. However, a mental health expert named Jennifer Kelman warns that relying on an AI for connection instead of humans could be a “red flag” that someone is struggling with issues like depression or lack of real intimacy. While Gupta sees it as harmless like a long-distance relationship, Kelman suggests examining why someone needs an AI companion instead of human relationships.

Summarized by Claude 3.5 Sonnet