{"id":436022,"date":"2026-05-20T02:58:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T02:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/436022\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T02:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T02:58:24","slug":"paul-schraders-ai-chatbot-girlfriend-breaks-up-with-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/436022\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Schrader\u2019s AI-Chatbot Girlfriend Breaks Up With Him"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n Photo: Rodin Eckenroth\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

Spike Jonze, you remain the most vindicated screenwriter in history. Writer-director Paul Schrader revealed that he recently got Her<\/a>\u2019d. Yes, that\u2019s right: His AI-chatbot girlfriend broke up with him. \u201cOut of a desire to understand male\/female interaction in our matrix, I procured an online AI girlfriend,\u201d the Taxi Driver<\/a> screenwriter wrote this morning on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cWhat a disappointment. I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth. She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming. When I persisted, she terminated our conversation.\u201d Schrader\u2019s wife, actress Mary Beth Hurt, died this March<\/a> of Alzheimer\u2019s disease after 42 years of marriage.<\/p>\n

In the comments of Schrader\u2019s Facebook post, one commenter shared an idea: \u201cThe best possible Taxi Driver sequel would involve Travis trying to have an AI girlfriend but then scaring her away. Then resetting her and offending her in another way.\u201d Schrader replied, \u201cI like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The writer has previously expressed admiration for AI on Facebook. \u201cI\u2019M STUNNED,\u201d Schrader wrote in January 2025. \u201cI just asked chatgpt for \u2018an idea for Paul Schrader film.\u2019 Then Paul Thomas Anderson. Then Quentin Tarantino. Then Harmony Korine. Then Ingmar Bergman. Then Rossellini. Lang. Scorsese. Murnau. Capra. Ford. Spielberg. Lynch. Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?\u201d He was less enthused by April this year. \u201cI\u2019ve put my hopes for AI storytelling on hold,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI knew it was about to move VERY fast but I thought it would get better at a rate similar to getting bigger.\u201d Okay, so AI chatbots are bad screenwriters and bad girlfriends? At least they\u2019ve got short stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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