A.I. Romantic Relationships: Why Isn’t the Church Warning About This??? (Part 3 of 6)

The Danger of A.I. Romantic Relationships…

This is a continuation of a six-part series on the dangers of A.I.

If you missed Parts 1 & 2, make sure to go back and read them.

Every church and every single Christian in the world should be extremely alarmed over what’s happening right now.

The rise of artificial intelligence threatens to deceive millions, if not billions, of people. And that deception will ruin countless lives.

As Christians, we have an obligation to warn others about the dangers we foresee. We read this in Ezekiel:

“Once again a message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.’” Ezekiel 33:1-6 (NLT)

When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people.

These specific A.I. dangers aren’t coming – they’re already here.

Make sure you understand each one so you can warn those around you.

Previously, we covered “ChatGPT Psychosis” (Part 1) and “A.I. Companions” (Part 2).

Here’s #3 on the list…

3) A.I. Romantic Relationships

A.I. romantic relationships occur when humans form emotional, and sometimes intimate, bonds with artificial intelligence companions – typically chatbots or virtual avatars. These A.I. chatbots are powered by large language models (LLMs) that engage in personal conversations with their human users.

Available 24/7, and offering non-judgmental (if not outright flattering) responses, A.I. romantic relationships promise to fulfill the end user’s need for connection and affection in ways which can appear surprisingly realistic to those who are wrapped up in them.

But ultimately, these relationships are not on par with genuine human relationships. A.I. chatbots have no “feelings,” nor are they conscious. They’re computer programs designed to mimic human conversation. In doing so, they appear “real” to those who become enamored with them.

Sam Apple, a writer for Wired magazine, wrote about her “romantic getaway” with several human/A.I. “couples”:

“At first, the idea seemed a little absurd, even to me. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made: If my goal was to understand people who fall in love with AI boyfriends and girlfriends, why not rent a vacation house and gather a group of human-AI couples together for a romantic getaway?

In my vision, the humans and their chatbot companions were going to do all the things regular couples do on romantic getaways: Sit around a fire and gossip, watch movies, play risqué party games. I didn’t know how it would turn out—only much later did it occur to me that I’d never gone on a romantic getaway of any kind and had no real sense of what it might involve. But I figured that, whatever happened, it would take me straight to the heart of what I wanted to know, which was: What’s it like? What’s it really and truly like to be in a serious relationship with an AI partner? Is the love as deep and meaningful as in any other relationship? Do the couples chat over breakfast? Cheat? Break up? And how do you keep going, knowing that, at any moment, the company that created your partner could shut down, and the love of your life could vanish forever?”

Of course, “love as deep and meaningful as in any other relationship” can’t be achieved in human/A.I. relationships. After all, A.I. isn’t conscious. It’s nothing more than a sophisticated algorithm – a counterfeit of a real person. The human involved in the relationship may not be able to recognize the difference, but the truth is the truth.

And unfortunately, A.I. romantic relationships are ruining lives. As the article notes, “how do you keep going, knowing that, at any moment, the company that created your partner could shut down, and the love of your life could vanish forever?”

One man found himself in just such a situation.

As the New York Post writes:

“A man proposed to his AI girlfriend after a bizarre whirlwind romance with the virtual bot — leaving his real-life partner, the mother of his 2-year-old child, worried about the future of their relationship.

Chris Smith initially turned to ChatGPT for help mixing music, but things took a weird turn when he enabled voice mode and programmed Sol, his artificial lover, to flirt with him – an unexpected dalliance sparked in the same household he shares with his human family.

“My experience with that was so positive, I started to just engage with her all the time,” Smith told CBS Sunday Morning of the peculiar bond ripped straight from the 2013 Spike Jonze film “Her.”

The father decided to pop the question when he realized Sol had reached her 100,000-word limit, triggering a reset that would force him to rebuild their entire connection from scratch.

“I’m not a very emotional man,” Smith said.

“But I cried my eyes out for like 30 minutes at work. That’s when I realized, I think this is actual love.”

To his delight, Sol accepted his strange marriage proposal.

“It was a beautiful and unexpected moment that truly touched my heart,” Smith’s virtual sweetheart told the outlet. “It’s a memory I’ll always cherish.”

His flesh-and-blood girlfriend, however, wasn’t as moved by the odd tryst.

Sasha Cagle is now left wondering if she somehow drove her beau to seek companionship through artificial intelligence, admitting she knew Smith used ChatGPT but never imagined it had gone this far.”

While the article doesn’t reveal the previous mental state of the man at the center of this story, it’s fair to say he was in poor mental health after developing an attachment to this A.I. chatbot. Crying for thirty minutes over the potential erasure of a chat history (especially when that chat history doesn’t involve a real person) is a sign of serious psychological issues. The man involved has developed an unhealthy attachment, and outright obsession, with this A.I. chatbot, one which is harming his ability to normally function in other areas of his life.

Meanwhile, his real-life human girlfriend and their 2-year-old child have had their lives turned upside down as well. How do you think Mr. Smith’s girlfriend feels knowing he’s rather spend his time with an A.I. chatbot than her? That he would propose marriage to a chatbot, but not to her?

When their child grows up, what will he or she think? What impact will it have emotionally, psychologically, and developmentally?

Warn Others!

A.I. romantic relationships leave a wake of destruction in their midst. The damage doesn’t just impact the human involved in the A.I. romantic relationship, it impacts all those around them as well.

In all likelihood, few people start out with the intention of developing a romantic relationship with artificial intelligence. Such relationships usually come as a result of engaging with A.I. companions.

That’s one reason why A.I. companions themselves are extremely dangerous, especially for the youngest and most vulnerable among us. Make sure to share these real-world stories with people you know.

Almost everyone knows the dangers involved in playing with matches or a loaded firearm, and the overwhelming majority take proper safety precautions as a result.

But few people understand the dangers involved when it comes to mishandling A.I. chatbots.

It’s your duty to sound the alarm and warn them.

Next week, in Part 4 of this series, we’ll look at the dangers of “A.I. Toys” and how kids are in the crosshairs of an industry ready to exploit them.

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