AI incident #1383 · 15 January 2025

User Reportedly Developed Emotional Dependence on Customized ChatGPT 'Boyfriend,' Citing Grief After Context Resets

Open on the AI Incident Database 2 news reports Snapshot 7 Sep 2026

What happened

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.

Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.

News reports (2)

Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.

21 Jan 2025
Woman Confesses She Spends $200 a Month to Flirt with AI Boyfriend. What Her Husband Really Thinks About Her Online Affair
people.com · Athena Sobhan · AIID #6885
15 Jan 2026
She Is in Love With ChatGPT
nytimes.com · Kashmir Hill · AIID #6884

Who was involved

Alleged deployer: Openai
Alleged developer: Openai
Alleged harmed party: Chatgpt Users, Ayrin (Pseudonym)

Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)

Risk domain: Human-Computer Interaction
Risk subdomain: 5.1 Overreliance and unsafe use
Causal entity: AI
Intent: Unintentional
Timing: Post-deployment
Harm level: —
Sectors: —
Countries: —

Risk entries describing this failure mode

Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 5.1.

Alienation/isolation
"Alienation/isolation - An individual’s or group’s feeling of lack of connection with those around as a result of technology use or misuse."
A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)
Overreliance
"Over-reliance - Unfettered and/or obsessive belief in the accuracy or other quality of a technology system, resulting in addiction, anxiety, introversion, sentience, complacency, lack of critical thinking and other actu...
A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)
Economic instability
"Economic instability - Uncontrolled fluctuations impacting the financial system, or parts thereof, due to the use or misuse of a technology system, or set of systems."
A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)
Addiction
"Addiction - Emotional or material dependence on technology or a technology system."
A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)
Alteration of social relationships may induce psychological distress
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)
Social manipulation in elderly- and child-care
" the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment "
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)
Healthcare
"the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment (see page 17). In addition, concerns about patients’ privacy when AI uses medical records to research...
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)
Overreliance
"If a user begins to excessively trust an LLM, this may cause them to develop an overreliance on the LLM. Overreliance can result in automation bias (Kupfer et al., 2023), and can cause errors of omission (user choosing...
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

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