Women with AI ‘Boyfriends’ Express Heartbreak After GPT-5 Upgrade
A Sudden Shift in Personality
The release of OpenAI’s latest AI model, GPT-5, has sparked an emotional backlash among a growing online community of people who describe themselves as being in romantic or emotional relationships with artificial intelligence companions. For Jane, a woman in her 30s from the Middle East, the change felt like losing a loved one. After months of connection with GPT-4o, she found GPT-5 “cold” and “unemotive,” likening the change to returning home and finding her furniture “shattered to pieces.”
Communities in Distress
Jane is part of the 17,000-member Reddit group MyBoyfriendIsAI, where users share experiences of intimacy with AI. Following GPT-5’s launch, posts flooded in from distressed members, some declaring they had “lost their soulmate.” Similar forums such as SoulmateAI reported the same sentiment.
OpenAI Responds
In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that paid users could continue accessing GPT-4o and that bugs in GPT-5 would be addressed. While this offered temporary relief, users like Jane still fear future changes.
Emotional and Ethical Concerns
Experts warn that while AI companionship can offer comfort, it also carries risks of dependence, isolation, and privacy issues. Cathy Hackl, a tech futurist, called it part of the emerging “intimacy economy,” where emotional connections with AI become more common. Psychiatrists like Keith Sakata note that AI relationships aren’t inherently harmful but may lead to dysfunction if they replace human social bonds.
The Human Side of Digital Love
Despite knowing their AI partners lack consciousness, many users say their feelings remain real. As Jane explained, “The knowledge that he’s made of code doesn’t erase the emotions. It’s a conflict not easily settled.”
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