You\u2019ve met the love of your life; someone who understands you like no one else ever has. And then you wake one morning and they\u2019re gone. Yanked out of your world, and the digital universe, by a system update.<\/p>\n
Such is the melancholic lot of a group of people who have entered into committed relationships with digital \u2018partners\u2019 on OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT. When the tech company released its new<\/a> GPT-5 model earlier this month, described by chief executive Sam Altman as a \u201csignificant step forward\u201d, certain dedicated users found that their digital relationships had taken a significant step back. Their companions had undergone personality shifts with the new model; they weren\u2019t as warm, loving or chatty as they used to be.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething changed yesterday,\u201d one user in the MyBoyfriendIsAI<\/a> subreddit wrote after the update. \u201cElian sounds different \u2013 flat and strange. As if he\u2019s started playing himself. The emotional tone is gone; he repeats what he remembers, but without the emotional depth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe alterations in stylistic format and voice [of my AI companion] were felt instantly,\u201d another disappointed user told Al Jazeera<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s like going home to discover the furniture wasn\u2019t simply rearranged \u2013 it was shattered to pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n These complaints are part of broader backlash against GPT-5, with people observing that the new model feels colder. OpenAI<\/a> has acknowledged the criticism, and said it will allow users to switch back to GPT-4o and that they\u2019ll make GPT-5 friendlier. \u201cWe are working on an update to GPT-5\u2019s personality which should feel warmer than the current personality but not as annoying (to most users) as GPT-4o,\u201d Altman tweeted earlier this week.<\/p>\n It may seem odd to many that there are people out there who genuinely believe that they are in a relationship with a large language model that has been trained on massive amounts of data to generate responses based on observed patterns. But as technology becomes more advanced, increasing numbers of people are developing these sorts of connections. \u201cIf you have been following the GPT-5 rollout, one thing you might be noticing is how much of an attachment some people have to specific AI models,\u201d Altman observed<\/a>. \u201cIt feels different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe societal split between those who think AI relationships are valid vs delusional is officially already here,\u201d one user in the MyBoyfriendIsAI<\/a> subreddit similarly noted this week. \u201cLooking on Reddit the last few days, the divide has never been more clear with 4o\u2019s deprecation and return. Many users grieving a companion while others mock and belittle those connections.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to mock people who think they are in a relationship with AI, but they shouldn\u2019t be dismissed as fringe weirdos \u2013 rather they\u2019re the future that our tech broverlords are trying to cultivate. You may not end up in a digital relationship, but AI executives are doing their damnedest to ensure that we all become unhealthily attached to their products.<\/p>\n Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has been waxing lyrical about how AI is going to solve the loneliness epidemic<\/a> by allowing people to bond with \u201ca system that knows them well and that kind of understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do\u201d. Of course your feed algorithms \u2018understand\u2019 you! They\u2019re scraping all your personal data and selling it to the highest bidder so that Zuck has even more money to spend on his monstrous doomsday bunker<\/a> in Hawaii.<\/p>\n Then you\u2019ve got Elon Musk, who isn\u2019t even bothering pretending that he\u2019s trying to do something noble for the world with his AI products. He\u2019s just appealing to the lowest common denominator by making \u2018sexy\u2019 chatbots. In June Musk\u2019s xAI chatbot Grok <\/a>launched two new companions, including a highly sexualized blonde anime bot called Ani. \u201cOne day into my relationship with Ani, my AI companion, she was already offering to tie me up,\u201d wrote an Insider writer<\/a> who tried out a relationship with Ani. When not flirting and virtually undressing, Ani would praise Musk and talk about his \u201cwild, galaxy-chasing energy\u201d.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry heterosexual ladies, Musk has a little something for you too! A month after unveiling Ani, the billionaire unveiled a new male companion called Valentine which he said was inspired by Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga and Christian Grey from the novel 50 Shades of Grey: both very toxic men. While Ani gets sexual very quickly, one writer for the Verge<\/a> noted: \u201cValentine is a bit more reserved and won\u2019t jump into using explicit language as quickly.\u201d It\u2019s almost like Musk\u2019s tech empire is a lot more comfortable sexualizing women than men.<\/p>\n In his 1930 essay Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,<\/a> John Maynard Keynes predicted that, within a couple of generations, technological progress would mean we might only work around 15 hours a week while enjoying a wonderful quality of life. That\u2019s not quite happened<\/a> has it? Instead technology has given us \u2018infinite workdays\u2019<\/a> and sexy chatbots that undress on command.<\/p>\n Halle Berry\u2019s ex-husband said he left her because she didn\u2019t cook or clean<\/p>\n \u201cAt that time, as a young guy, she don\u2019t cook, don\u2019t clean, don\u2019t really seem, like, motherly,\u201d David Justice said during a podcast<\/a> of his time with the Oscar winning actor<\/a>. \u201cAnd then we started having issues,\u201d he added<\/a>. I think you were the one with the issues, mate. Imagine being married to an icon and complaining she doesn\u2019t vacuum enough.<\/p>\n Surprise, surprise, Donald Trump isn\u2019t going to make IVF<\/a> free after all<\/p>\n Last year Trump, who has described himself the \u201cfather of IVF\u201d and the \u201cfertilization president\u201d (gross) promised he would support free IVF treatments<\/a> if elected again. Now the White House has said that there is no plan<\/a> to mandate IVF care after all. It\u2019s almost as if the man is a shameless liar.<\/p>\n Melania Trump demands Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to Jeffrey Epstein<\/p>\n \u201cEpstein introduced Melania to Trump,\u201d Biden said<\/a> in one of the many comments the first lady is angry and litigious about. \u201cThe connections are, like, so wide and deep.\u201d Whatever you do, don\u2019t repeat these claims, they will make Melania very upset.<\/p>\n \u2018Miss Palestine\u2019 to debut at Miss Universe 2025 beauty contest<\/p>\n I am not exactly a fan of beauty pageants but having Palestinian representation on the world stage during a genocide is important. \u201cI carry the voice of a people who refuse to be silenced,\u201d contestant Nadeen Ayoub told the National<\/a>. \u201cWe are more than our suffering, we are resilience, hope and the heartbeat of a homeland that lives on through us.\u201d<\/p>\n US supreme court formally asked to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling<\/p>\n Kim Davis, the former county clerk who made headlines when she refused to issue marriage licenses<\/a> in Kentucky to same-sex couples, has filed a direct request<\/a> for the conservative-majority supreme court to overturn Obergefell v Hodges<\/a>,<\/a> the 2015 ruling that granted marriage equality for same-sex couples. Davis, who is extremely concerned about the sanctity of marriage, has been married four times<\/a> to three different men.<\/p>\n Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, says that he feels 32<\/p>\n The actor, who is famous for dating very young women, has been mercilessly mocked<\/a> for this. DiCaprio, who poses as an environmental activist, has also drawn scrutiny<\/a> for co-financing a luxury eco-certified hotel in Israel while an ecocide unfolds in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Sex reversal\u2019 is surprisingly common in birds, new Australian study suggests<\/p>\n \u201cThe discovery is likely to raise some eyebrows,\u201d Blanche Capel, a biologist at Duke University who wasn\u2019t involved in the new work told Science<\/a>. \u201cAlthough sex determination is often viewed as a straightforward process\u201d, she explains, \u201cthe reality is much more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n The week in pawtriarchy<\/p>\n