In today’s high-tech world, we are moving towards the point where it seems there is nothing that AI cannot do.

• Would you like to share a recipe for a new dish? (check)
• Plan your trip? (check)
• Become a personal trainer and help with exercise? (check)

And much more.

However, if there is one thing we humans have always believed AI cannot surpass us, it is emotional maturity. We have been convinced that AI cannot read the emotions of others or have emotions of its own – or so we used to think.

The scientific community has repeatedly tried to find AI that can read emotions, and we have succeeded to some extent. Take, for example, Morphcast Emotion AI – an AI that is capable of recognizing over 130 facial expressions, enabling surprisingly engaging, almost human-like conversations across various industries. Yet, none have made headlines like ChatGPT.

Influencers flirting with ChatGPT

How far would you go for a social media trend? Well, it seems that the latest craze involves not just chatting but, ahem, flirting with ChatGPT. Social media is now filled with reels of influencers asking ChatGPT a variety of witty or even mundane questions, and the replies are… well, flirting.

Watch this video:

This trend has also reached India, where many influencers are interacting with ChatGPT’s voice assistant. And the thing is that unlike the usual female voices of Alexa and Siri, ChatGPT’s voice assistant can be changed to a male voice and can also speak Hindi.

‘ChatGPT is optimized to be flirty’

In May 2024, OpenAI unveiled the latest update to ChatGPT, named GPT-4o. This new version, released to everyone, including non-members (with a limit of 5-10 messages every 5-6 hours), has been fine-tuned to make it even more ‘conversational’.

The new update allows ChatGPT to read and discuss images, translate languages, and even identify emotions from visual expressions. It also has a memory feature, enabling it to recall past signals. However, what is really catching the attention of influencers is GPT-4o’s enhanced flirty and conversational skills.

Apart from this, ChatGPT offers cheeky features for non-members like ‘Dare to Flirt’ and ‘Flirt Master’, which promise to teach you the art of flirting. People on social media have mentioned that this feature can help those who are socially awkward and improve their conversation skills.

‘Artificial friend’

However, this is not the first time AI has played the role of a partner for many people. A similar trend was seen in India earlier as well, when young people used to chat and send pictures to Snapchat bots, which was really scary.

There needs to be a clear distinction between chatting just for the sake of a social media post and actually engaging with and enjoying a bot.

For instance, last year, Jaswant Singh Chail, who was arrested on Christmas 2021, admitted that a ‘chatbot’ not only encouraged him to ‘kill the queen’ but also exchanged over 5,000 “sexually explicit” messages with him, the court was told.

‘ChatGPT has become their safe space’

Now if you are wondering why ChatGPT and other AIs are so attractive to humans that they skip human-to-human interaction in real life, and prefer to flirt with the AI ​​instead, experts believe there is a deep psychological reason behind it.

For example, Dr. Sathak Dave, a psychiatrist from Ahmedabad, explains, india today The rate of change of relationships in a person’s life is higher than in the old times. But, according to Dr. Dave, building a relationship with a ‘human being’ requires effort, emotions, recognition, adjustment and compromise.

“They want the perfect answer from their partner, which isn’t always possible,” says Dave. However, when it comes to AI, people feel it requires commitment, emotional investment and effort.

“Furthermore, AI knows how to give the ‘right answer’, which provides instant gratification, and the convenience of chatting with AI gives a sense of control, which creates a cycle of going back to AI again and again,” explains Dr Dave.

Absy Sam, a Mumbai-based psychologist agrees and says that people often consider ChatGPT and other bots as their ‘safe space’ and there is ‘no judgement’ and since the answers are always instant, it also gives instant gratification, which is not the case with humans.We’re looking at you, slow texters),

“With humans, every new relationship and breakup takes a toll on a person’s mental health. But when it comes to AI, there are no breakups. The entire power is in the hands of the user, giving them a sense of validation and control,” says Dr Dave.

Would you flirt with ChatGPT before flirting with your partner?