Did the system update ruin your boyfriend? Love in a time of ChatGPT | Arwa Mahdawi

Some people with AI partners expressed dismay at the new GPT-5 model

You've met the love of your life, someone who understands you like no one else ever has. And then you wake one morning and they're gone. Yanked out of your world, and the digital universe, by a system update.

Such is the melancholic lot of a group of people who have entered into committed relationships with digital partners" on OpenAI's ChatGPT. When the tech company released its new GPT-5 model earlier this month, described by chief executive Sam Altman as a significant step forward", certain dedicated users found that their digital relationships had taken a significant step back. Their companions had undergone personality shifts with the new model; they weren't as warm, loving or chatty as they used to be.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist