I am your partner, and I am a robot

BENEATH THE APPEAL OF AI COMPANIONS LIES A SOBERING TRUTH: THEY ARE, AT THEIR CORE, NOTHING MORE THAN CODE

- Charles Assisi

A few days ago, I stood in front of a class of journalism and communication students and threw them a question: "Raise your hand if you don't use AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to complete your assignments." I wasn't expecting a sea of hands, but I had hoped to see at least a few. Not a single hand went up. It felt like I had been hit in the gut.

What made this moment even more unsettling was what happened the very next day. I came across a New York Times story by tech journalist Kashmir Hill. It was about a 28-year-old woman who had fallen in love with a virtual partner she'd created using ChatGPT. She described him as her ideal companion-someone who made her feel cherished and understood. They even engaged in virtual sex from time to time.

I couldn't shake the story, so I brought it up with a Mumbai-based researcher and entrepreneur in computer sciences. His response? Indifference. "There's history to this," he said.

He reminded me of a case that had grabbed global headlines in 2023. Rosanna Ramos, a woman in the U.S., "married" an AI chatbot she'd named Eren. Built using the Replika app, Eren wasn't just an advanced chatbot to her; he was the perfect husband.