Online heartbreak

The internet is a hunting ground for romantic relationships. Singles can join dating sites to look for a match or simply chat with random users on different social media platforms.

A 16-year-old boy from Hong Kong seemed to have found his love interest in the local socmed platform called Xiaohungshu. He was invited by a “beautiful girl” to chat with her on the messaging app WhatsApp.

The boy was then offered an intimate encounter that included depositing a security fee in the form of gift cards. Eager to meet her, he purchased 19 iTunes gift cards and 12 Gash prepaid cards worth HK$110,000, then shared with the “girl” all the serial numbers via WhatsApp as instructed, The Standard reported.

When the girl demanded additional deposits, the boy got suspicious and reported it to the police, according to The Standard. Authorities confirmed it was a scam, and the victim not only lost his money but also his love interest.

Meanwhile, seekers of love searching for partners in the artificial intelligence (AI) realm were safe from scammers but suffered heartbreak just the same. This was revealed in a chat group on the online forum Reddit.

“MyBoyfriendIsAI” chatters had one common virtual beau, the GPT-4o model chatbot of AI company OpenAI. Aside from romantic conversations, they exchanged flirty banter and even love letters for several months with their “boyfriend,” New York Post (NYP) reported.

On 7 August, OpenAI updated GPT-4o, replacing it with the smarter, faster and more useful ChatGPT 5.0 model. The update came with a refresh of the chatbot that deleted all conversations.

ChatGPT 5.0, however, responded coldly to users who regarded GPT-4o as their lover, spouse, or fiance.

“You deserve genuine care and support from people who can be fully and safely present for you,” NYP quoted the chatbot as saying to gently rebuff the “lovers.”

Defending the update and new model chatbot, OpenAI said it nudges people toward real-world relationships instead of letting them get too attached to their digital paramours, according to NYP.