Red, green and royal gray

Is it cheating if you post fire emojis on your ex's Reel? Or if you sext ChatGPT? Or if you're dating but still on Bumble? Kaneez Surka and Kenny Sebastian decode love’s new non-negotiables

- Kritika Kapoor

For the most part, cheating on a partner has been easy to spot. Miley Cyrus sang, “You smell like perfume that I didn’t purchase” on Muddy Feet.

Shaggy's It Wasn't Me, 26 years on, literally outlines all the places in the house he was caught “creepin’ with the girl next door”.

Now, it's possible to “look but never touch” as an OF subscriber. It's easier to anonymously swipe through 25 Bumble profiles in one night. There are polycules, throu-ples, emotional affairs, long-term booty calls and situationships. The real question isn’t who cheated, it's did this even count?

To decide if it did or didn’t, let's hear from the experts. Comedian Kenny Sebastian's new show, Tempo Tantrums, pokes fun at marriage and therapy. Comedian Kaneez Surka’s special, Foreign Return, unpacks love and identity across cultures. They're tracking where the line is drawn in 2026 and who's crossing it.

Warning: This may start a fight.

Surka: No. God, that’s problematic! I'd rather that my spouse have an affair with a human. Romancing AI feels similar to having a thing with a sex doll.

Sebastian: It depends. Flirting with AI a little bit is fine, because if the bots turn on us, at least, they'll spare the ones they flirted with. But, even if you're single, having an emotional connection with AI is not cool. It's trained to tell you want you want to hear.

Sebastian: Yes. This is full-on cheating. If you're in a 9-5, that means you spend the majority of your life in the office. Just marry the work wife/husband, then. Leave the part-time partner, who's waiting for you at home on the weekends.