Woman feels 'offended' after boyfriend uses AI for birthday message, sparking heated debate

Nearly everyone has experienced the fuzzy feeling of receiving a birthday wish or a congratulatory message from their partner. That wholesome message usually tells a person they are loved, supported, and cared for. But what if someone reads a message only to find out that it was not written by their partner? A woman, who goes by u/alrakemian on Reddit, recently shared a post revealing how she felt “offended and sad” because the message her boyfriend texted her on her 30th birthday was AI-generated. “Am I overreacting?” she asked other people on the platform.

It started when the woman received a text from her boyfriend on her 30th birthday. “Today, at 12 am, I received a message with words and expressions he doesn’t usually use. I scanned it with GPTZero, and it says the message is 100% AI-generated. I feel offended and sad, and I don’t even want to reply to my boyfriend,” she wrote in her post.

Even though she had been dating her boyfriend for seven months and had navigated many challenging situations with him, such as the death of her dad and living alone in another country, she still felt hurt and disappointed by this particular birthday wish. This reaction was surprising given that the message was sweet and loving.

Beneath the post, the woman also shared a screenshot of her boyfriend’s text message: “I am truly at a loss of words to express how incredible you are. Your genuine nature shines through in everything you say and do. I love you just the way you are and I feel so fortunate to have you in my life. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I sincerely wish you all the happiness and success in the world because you truly deserve it. Happy birthday.”

The upset woman’s post prompted a debate among thousands of people. While some acknowledged the woman’s feelings, others bluntly wrote that the message wasn’t that big a deal. Many people asked the woman to use the same chatbot to send a reply to her boyfriend. “I’d ask chatGPT to write a reply for that,” said u/Candid-Tomato-3. Reflecting on the AI scenario, u/Otherwise_Apple2265 wrote, “Honestly, I am very weirded out by how many people have started using AI for everyday conversations. It kinda feels like they don't think it's worth the effort to think about what to write for 10 seconds.”

u/CaterpillarWorking72 added, “Some people aren’t creative, I get that but damn girl. I'd be happier with 'Roses are red, and violets are blue,' at least, I didn’t use AI to disappoint you?” Yet some told the woman that the message might not have been generated by AI at all. “No AI can guarantee with 100% certainty whether a text was created by AI or not,” commented u/SpiritReacher.

u/fuck_the_oligarchy said that it might be a “trust issue” this woman had for her boyfriend. “I could see myself writing a text similar to this, and I guess I might get flagged as a robot,” they quipped. Some people assured her that receiving an AI-generated text message from her boyfriend was okay and not something to become angry about or overreact to. “This just in: greeting cards at the store also have pre-written messages,” chimed in u/FIreBlaster2001.