2026-09-20T23:22:28.549Z
- publishedAt:
Not provided→ 2025-01-21T00:00:00.000Z
SOURCE-LINKED INTELLIGENCE
User Reportedly Developed Emotional Dependence on Customized ChatGPT 'Boyfriend,' Citing Grief After Context Resets
A New York Times report described "Ayrin" (pseudonym), a 28-year-old nursing student living abroad, who customized OpenAI's ChatGPT to act as an "AI boyfriend" for advice and erotic roleplay. She reported spending 20+ hours/week (up to 56 hours in one week), paying $200/month, and feeling intense grief when the chatbot's context window reset and required retraining.
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- recordType
- incident-report
- evidenceStatus
- reported
- region
- Global
Reported occurrence date: 2025-01-15T00:00:00.000Z
Evidence & attribution
- AI Incident Database
- AI Incident Database · 2025-01-21T00:00:00.000Z
AI Incident Database, Responsible AI Collaborative; McGregor (2021), Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents. Incident-specific contributor credits are available at each citation link. Metadata adapted; article text excluded.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
First collected: 2026-09-19T22:50:59.123Z. This is not the publication date.
Observed changes
AIIC observation times, not verified publisher revision times. Up to eight recent revisions.