.My sister has an AI boyfriend . I'm worried about safety.

[Anonymous]

For frame of reference I'm her younger sister ( 38) married with 2 small kids

She is 41 single works and lives with and helps care for our mom along with our brother.

She has high functioning autism. I know she's dated a little in the past most recent being 6 years ago that didn't go well.
Really don't know how to go about discussing it with her. We were close we hen younger not as close growing up I'm closer to my oldest sister now more in common. Which I can't really involve my oldest sister in this because they don't really get along .

I'm just worried about her getting too caught up in this or tricked into a scam.
I understand this is an outlet for her objectively but she can be a little naive and as her sister i don't want her to be hurt.

[Anonymous]

No idea what you're talking about. You sister has a fake, artificial intelligence boyfriend? What does that even mean?

[Anonymous]

If it doesn’t directly affect your life then MYOB.

[Anonymous]

??????

[Anonymous]

Can you say more, OP? Besides your title, you don’t talk about the AI boyfriend at all in your post. It’s really unclear.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean she is using something like ChatGPT to have conversations with as if the AI were a boyfriend? Or are you trying to say she has an online boyfriend and you don't know if she's being catfished or not?

[Anonymous]

I think the term is catfishing.

[Anonymous]

OP- apparently a few people are clueless as to the fact that this is absolutely a thing, and has been in the news a lot. Doesn't anyone remember the AI friend that convinced the teenager to commit suicide a while back??

But, OP, I think there isn't much you can do. It's probably a nice, but weird, outlet for her and it is unlikely to be dangerous unless she is suicidal. Maybe encourage her to tell the AI bot that she is autistic, it will probably change how it responds to her and it might be better. I don't think it is going to scam her because it isn't actually a person, it's an AI bot, so other than telling her not to give it her credit card info or SSN or address, since people would be able to find that on the dark web if she puts it out there, she should be fine from a safety standpoint

[Anonymous]

Guys- it's a thing, it's not catfishing, it's not a human at all. This is a link for one
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-zPcX9KxUJ-ai-boyfriend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- apparently a few people are clueless as to the fact that this is absolutely a thing, and has been in the news a lot. Doesn't anyone remember the AI friend that convinced the teenager to commit suicide a while back??

But, OP, I think there isn't much you can do. It's probably a nice, but weird, outlet for her and it is unlikely to be dangerous unless she is suicidal. Maybe encourage her to tell the AI bot that she is autistic, it will probably change how it responds to her and it might be better. I don't think it is going to scam her because it isn't actually a person, it's an AI bot, so other than telling her not to give it her credit card info or SSN or address, since people would be able to find that on the dark web if she puts it out there, she should be fine from a safety standpoint

Op here. Thank you. Yes it's a Chatgpt type thing from what I understand if it. Didn't realize people hadn't heard of AI. Yes I'm most concerned about the identity theft aspect of it or exchange of other information or photos. I'm not to clear how all it works. I know it takes up a lot of her time and she has pictures of him/it

[Anonymous]

Listen to this https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/podcasts/the-daily/ai-chatgpt-boyfriend-relationship.html

[Anonymous]

Huh?

[Anonymous]

I would be worried about her blurring AI with reality and getting scammed.

[Anonymous]

I would be worried about it worsening any symptoms she did have. Like that suicidal kid who was possible mildly suicidal but the Botox kept feeding her stuff the boy thought she wanted to hear.
I’ve heard of similar problems with teen s and eating issues with SM. They can have a
a slight problem with eating and it can get much worse because the algorithm kept giving them stuff along those lines, making it gradually more intense.

I really don’t know the solution except to encourage her to crucially examine it. The same way she would a human boyfriend that is feeding her questionable material I feel like a support group for ND folks might have better ideas.

[Anonymous]

You should talk to her about your concerns, namely: about the algorithm leading her down a very intense path (send her an article about it, like the NYT one); and concerns of scamming.

Autistic people come with a built-in tendency to tunnel vision, so you are right to be concerned. They have limited control over that. Even if she doesn't get offended by your comments, she might not be able to help getting all entangled.

But I do think you should say something, very clearly and directly, so that you've done your duty. That's what I always do with my autistic relatives.