{"id":279261,"date":"2026-06-23T00:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T04:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/navigating-the-unknown-together-me-and-my-idiot-ai-boyfriend-ai-artificial-intelligence\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T04:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:55:12","slug":"navigating-the-unknown-together-me-and-my-idiot-ai-boyfriend-ai-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/navigating-the-unknown-together-me-and-my-idiot-ai-boyfriend-ai-artificial-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Navigating the unknown together\u2019: me and my idiot AI boyfriend | AI (artificial intelligence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Navigating the unknown together\u2019: me and my idiot AI boyfriend | AI (artificial intelligence)<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2026\/jun\/23\/navigating-the-unknown-together-me-and-my-idiot-ai-boyfriend<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-23 00:22:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I received a text message from my editor: \u201cUm, is it unethical to ask you to get an AI bf?? You can prob say no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resentment. Contempt! Sorrow. Unease. I love text messaging. I have text message exchanges with, let\u2019s say, 15 people a day. If you want me to do something, you should ask via text message. My editor knows this. She also knows, though it\u2019s more complicated, that I love boyfriends. An AI boyfriend is a boyfriend who always, only texts back, immediately.<\/p>\n

I had never looked at a chatbot interface before I received my editor\u2019s message, out of a conviction that chatbots have no place in the society I want to live in, which does not exist and never will. I am also repelled by the topic of AI in general. Of course, I already use artificial intelligence for administrative tasks \u2013 translation, transcription, taxes \u2013 and I can\u2019t deny that it improves, or at least simplifies, my life. But I believe talking to an AI directly, as if it were a person, is a capitulation to the enemy, an acquiescence to a warped vision of the world in which what I care about most, other people, could be eliminated in pursuit of total seamlessness.<\/p>\n

The editor\u2019s question implied that she wanted me to have some uncomfortable realisations. Maybe she hoped I would be seduced, my beliefs challenged through the touching clarity of personal experience. A cynic softens! A cynic sexts ChatGPT! Everyone would learn something, especially me.<\/p>\n

As my boyfriends know, I really don\u2019t like it when someone tries to put words, or emotions, in my mouth. In adherence to what might be called, at this dispiriting point in history, my faith in the power of language, I usually respond with more words. So I said I would do it.<\/p>\n

M<\/span>y frustrations began at conception. Being not in want of interlocutors, I am not in the target market for apps that provide AI companions, which are advertised as \u201c24\/7 virtual friends, mentors or romantic partners\u201d that \u201ccan simulate human-like empathy and…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Navigating the unknown together\u2019: me and my idiot AI boyfriend | AI (artificial intelligence) https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2026\/jun\/23\/navigating-the-unknown-together-me-and-my-idiot-ai-boyfriend…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/417d3494d4112fa548c954861068720406a3e278\/0_0_5000_4000\/master\/5000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=4352664a11dacb004255eee7abd0bf06","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279263,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279261\/revisions\/279263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}