r/technology • u/WorldTravelerBoss • Jul 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The terrifying rise of schoolboys making AI girlfriends. Boys as young as 12 are now in romantic ‘relationships’ with chatbots, and it’s affecting how they treat girls in the real world.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/25/schoolboys-ai-girlfriends/
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u/Spiritual-Nail-2641 Jul 15 '26

'Her' (2013), but significantly worse.

724

u/manachar Jul 15 '26

“Her” is one of my top sci-fi movies of all time and I adore how the relationship develops and rapidly changes as the AI becomes more and more powerful.

Unlike in the movie, current AI is designed to be an ultimate doormat and do whatever keeps the user talking and “engaged”.

On a similar note I remember when Alexa first came out there was an NPR story that had some child psychologists wondering what the effect of children being raised with people shouting commands to voice prompts. The children generally thought about Alexa and Siri as real people but were being trained that it was okay to demand things in pushy ways all the time.

Alexa play Darude Sandstorm versus Alexa, could you please play Darude Sandstorm and a thank you afterwards.

So this generation coming up has been trained to demand things and is now being trained the social interactions should always be centered around your needs.

This isn’t gonna end well.

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u/Cimorene_Kazul Jul 15 '26

Unfortunately Alexa works better when you’re Russ than when you’re kind, because rude is less words and the words are more harsh and therefore easier for her to parse.

Phrases I’ve tried to stop my Alexa’s alarm that work 50% of the time:

“Thank you, Alexa, that’s enough.”

“Alexa, please be quiet.”

“Alexa, turn off alarm.”

“Alexa, end alarm, please.”

What works 100% of the time?

“Shut up, Alexa.”

I gave up and just say shut up.

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u/RedbullZombie Jul 15 '26

"Stop" works

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u/Kanbaru-Fan Jul 15 '26

"Alexa staaaahp"

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u/RedbullZombie Jul 15 '26

100% accurate lmao

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u/BirdlessLongdeal Jul 15 '26

-alexa notification

-us national weather service ha....

-alexa i have a fucking window shut up!!

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u/hippydipster Jul 15 '26

Only if you're Russ.