![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Chat-GPT-shutterstock_2463942445.jpg\")
ChatGPT icon mobile app on a screen smartphone iPhone. Credit: Primakov \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\nChatGPT icon mobile app on a screen smartphone iPhone. Credit: Primakov \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n
More debonair photoshoots with every swipe on your dating app. Love letters strewn with fluffy adjectives. A lover using vocabulary far beyond their reading comprehension, repeating themselves in notes, frequently deploying em dashes, or coming off tone deaf in texts and phone calls.<\/p>\n
All signs of a \u201cvAlentIne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Efficiency, optimizing processes, and high-pressure execution are top of mind priorities in modern times. But when did analog love become a revolutionary act?<\/a> Just how splintered are a society\u2019s values when authenticity becomes a scarce resource?\u00a0<\/p>\n In a world where staying truly connected in a transactional society is challenging, Tampa Bay area AI professionals and professional writers had a few thoughts on etiquette and intention when it comes to using it as a tool for romance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Love, AI, and marriage\u00a0<\/p>\n Psychologist Dr. Kimberly Carnall frequently works with couples at her clinic St. Petersburg Holistic Psychology Clinic <\/a>and told Creative Loafing that, \u201c[Patients] have discussed how they use AI as a tool.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, the veil between humans and machines is thin.<\/p>\n In the New Yorker, author and computer scientist Jaron Lanier wrote that, \u201cConsciousness is lately treated as something precious and real, to be conquered by tech.\u201d<\/p>\n Love, then, too, becomes something to conquer, and increasingly less concrete, especially for young people, added Lanier.<\/p>\n Still, is it too much to ask for automation to be off limits when it comes to intimacy?\u00a0<\/p>\n AI is not just infiltrating blossoming love, it\u2019s sneaking into the wedding industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anna McElhatten owns Maven Way<\/a>, a local floral design company that serviced over 60 weddings in Tampa Bay over the last year. She told CL that she\u2019s \u201cdefinitely heard ChatGPT speeches from some best men.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Her ear has been trained to their repetitive nature, but there has been a bright spot.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t experienced AI-powered vows yet,\u201d she said, \u201cthat I know of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Authentic voice\u2019<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t always this way, explained Roy Peter Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are love lyrics and love poetry that go back to some of the earliest forms of writing,\u201d Clark\u2014author, editor, and Senior Scholar at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg\u2014told CL.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clark, who\u2019s embraced the title of \u201cAmerica\u2019s writing coach\u201d holds a PhD in medieval literature.<\/p>\n In 1970, he attended Providence College and crossed paths with \u201cthe most beautiful young woman [he\u2019d] ever seen.\u201d But he also wore glasses with Coke bottle lenses, had a bad complexion and didn\u2019t dress well.\u00a0<\/p>\n Everyone knew what he saw in Karen, but everyone wanted to know: \u201cHow did [he] get this girl to go out with [him]?\u201d<\/p>\n It was a note.<\/p>\n \u201cShe saw something in my writing that people couldn\u2019t see just by looking at me,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n He and Karen will celebrate 55 years of marriage in August.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore we got to the internet, social media or AI, there was this value, called \u2018sincerity\u2019 or \u2018authenticity,\u2019 a quality of writing we call authentic voice that is an illusion when you read someone\u2019s message,\u201d Clark explained. \u201cYou can hear their voice, even though it\u2019s not an actual voice recording, but somehow, it sounds like them.\u201d<\/p>\n Tale as old as time<\/p>\n And there might have been a precedent for getting someone, or something, else to write love notes.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all heard the trope. A couple meets online, they then see each other face-to-face, one of them or both don\u2019t match their profile images.<\/p>\n Clark invokes Edmond Rostend\u2019s 1897 verse drama, \u201cCyrano de Bergerac.\u201d<\/p>\n In it, a heroic, insecure French knight with an abnormally large schnoz falls in love with Roxane, who is being wooed by a much better looking man that has no skills or capacities.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s in love with the same woman, so he persuades Cyrano to write Roxane letters to win her over,\u201d Clark reminds us.<\/p>\n Spoiler alert: Years later, Roxane finds out that Cyrano has been writing her the letters and tells him she truly loves him based off of his writing while he\u2019s dying in her arms. All of that time they could have spent together was wasted on vanity and pride.\u00a0<\/p>\n If love is blind, Claude<\/a> writing your love story has to be worse than catfishing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Establishing boundaries\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida might be on the frontlines regulating AI with its pending Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights, spearheaded by Governor Ron DeSantis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the bills proposed prohibits AI from providing licensed mental health, counseling psychotherapy or acting as a therapist,\u201d Anna Bowling told CL. As the Principal Advisor for Special Projects at Altamira, Bowling constantly advises industry and policymakers on practical ways to incorporate an array of AI capabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n If AI models hold archival access to many of the most iconic love stories, poems and sonnets, why are LLMs<\/a> not a good resource for writing?<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem with the evolution of reference is reliability,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIn addition to the evolution of reliable information, these chatbots tend to hallucinate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI is only as accurate as the knowledge it\u2019s allowed to learn,\u201d Chip Futch, Chief Intelligence Officer of Aqua Marketing, told CL, adding that there are some AI systems he won\u2019t use at all.<\/p>\n \u201cThey either aren\u2019t transparent about their sources, or they\u2019re fed bias from the get go to suit someone\u2019s, or something\u2019s, company agenda,\u201d Futch said.<\/p>\n Dr. Carnall, the St. Pete psychologist, points out that AI is not meant for connection, but as an information and data tool.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s watering down who you are by asking a computer if you should do something rather than trusting your own guidance,\u201d she added. Instead, Dr. Carnall recommends spending time reconnecting with yourself or doing something you love with others.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bowling encourages self-discovery through a myriad of means, but cautions against using LLMs to think or feel for a user.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re just not built for that. You\u2019ll probably end up with some nice words, but those words will be shallowly predicted from an amalgamation of text that the large language model was trained on,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n IRL is the New Luxury<\/p>\n Presence is power<\/a>. A mixture of distrust and concern for the environment has called us back to old tech, dumbing your iPhone down<\/a> or swapping it for a flip phone, classic pastimes like puzzles<\/a>, knitting, reading a paperback book and more are becoming the new luxury status symbols.\u00a0<\/p>\n How are Tampa Bay singles adapting to this trend? Earlier today, the brand new St. Pete Athletic is hosting a \u201cPitch-A-Friend\u201d event<\/a>. Last month, Tampa Bay Pickleball Crew hosted a Dink & Date<\/a> speed dating event. Run clubs romances, snail mail club subscriptions and farmer\u2019s market meet cutes<\/a> are all up in the Bay area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asking AI for help on Valentine\u2019s Day is understandable\u2014but love and emotional are closer than you think<\/p>\n The pressure to be perfect is abundant due to social media expectations and rapid technology advancements. But resist, and try writing from the heart.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easier than it seems, Clark explained. In fact, most readers are already into writing.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of us already text, we\u2019re on social media,\u201d he said. Hendrix never thought of himself as a musician in the traditional sense.<\/p>\n \u201cActions define you,\u201d Clark said. \u201cNo one\u2019s writing is great or even good when they start out. No one will judge you on the first draft. Lower your standards, loosen up\u2026 Just sit down at the computer and write thoughts down without stopping for 15 minutes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re lucky enough for your love letters to make the rounds long after you\u2019re gone, like Napoleon and Josephine<\/a> or Simone de Beauvoir to Claude Lanzmann<\/a>. What do you want your legacy to be?\u00a0<\/p>\n During our chat, Clark then opens a copy of Shakespeare\u2019s sonnets. He then nostalgically revisits #18<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis poet\u2019s love for his lover may not be eternal,\u201d laughs Clark, \u201cbut we\u2019re still sitting here talking about it today\u2014500 years is a pretty good run.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Feb. 12 \u2013 18, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t