ChatGPT could be blurring the line between reality and fiction

ARTIFICIAL Intelligence (AI) is seamlessly integrated into our lives, whether its managing work tasks, controlling smart homes, or offering advice on parenting, fitness, and even mental health.

- VUYILE MADWANTSI

Platforms like ChatGPT have become trusted companions for many, solving everything from quick research queries to complex emotional dilemmas. However, what happens when we place too much trust in AI?

One woman in Greece found herself at the centre of a media storm when she used ChatGPT in an unconventional way, asking it to interpret the coffee grounds at the bottom of her husband's cup.

Known as tasseography, this ancient fortune-telling practice involves interpreting patterns in coffee grounds, tea leaves, or wine sediments to predict the future.

What followed was a dramatic chain of events that led to her filing for divorce, allegedly based on ChatGPT's “reading.”

According to reports in the Greek City Times, the unnamed woman, a mother of two married for 12 years, uploaded a photograph of her husband’s coffee cup to ChatGPT, asking it to analyse the patterns.

The AI’s response was shocking: it suggested that her husband was considering starting an affair with a woman whose name began with the letter “E”.

It went even further, claiming that the affair had already begun and that the “other woman” had plans to destroy their marriage.