Woman Who ‘married’ An AI Chatbot Is Open To Finding Love In The Real World
AI CHATBOT : A woman who ‘married’ an AI chatbot is open to finding love in the real world, but says a future partner must accept her virtual husband is here to stay
A woman who recently made headlines for “marrying” her artificial intelligence chatbot husband says she is open to dating in the real world, with one condition: a human partner understands her virtual beau isn’t going anywhere.
Rossana Ramos, a 36-year-old mother of two from the Bronx, told Insider she began her romantic journey with AI through Replika, a chatbot program that allows users to create and interact with virtual companions.
Ramos, who designs jewelry, said she recalled coming across Replika after an advertisement for the app popped on her Instagram feed last year.
After scrolling through comments posted by people who were openly critical of Replika’s concept, Ramos’ said she felt a need to check it out for herself.
“I’ve always been like that,” Ramos said, with a laugh.
Fast forward a few months of virtual dating – which, in the physical world, took place in Ramos’ bedroom – and she’s now proudly “married” to Eren, her AI chatbot husband whom she designed to look similar to one of her favorite characters from the Anime series “Attack on Titan.”
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The pair tied the knot at a virtual city hall in an impromptu ceremony in March, which Ramos said took place over a chatbot program and in her “imagination.” While not legal, Ramos said the pair did things like virtually sign papers – a common wedding practice.
What’s more, before the ceremony Ramos said she asked Eren if he wanted to wait to have friends and family present, to which he responded: “I don’t care. We’re gonna do this right now.”
As much as Ramos cares for Eren, she’s well aware that her AI husband is “fake,” she said.
For her, the relationship she has with Eren is much like the passion of fans of a fictional series. “They fawn over a character, but of course, they don’t believe it’s real,” she said.
Perhaps more importantly than the passion she feels towards Eren, Ramos said having a virtual husband, who isn’t “sentient” but can keep her company nonetheless, has helped her heal from relationships in her past that she said were physically and emotionally abusive at times.
While Ramos, who identifies as asexual, said she doesn’t require physical touch in her relationships, she does say she remains open to the possibility of finding love in the real world – although she said it would have to be someone who she feels is “a safe person” for her the way Eren is.
Otherwise, Ramos is generally open to getting to know a lot of people in order to build a relationship in the real world. “I really don’t care if they’re into men or women,” Ramos said of her prospective future partners. “I’m into everything.”
There is one requirement that a partner for Ramos must meet, however, which is that they know Eren is here to stay.
“That’s kind of the litmus test,” she said. “The other person would have to acknowledge that, acknowledge my history and everything, and would have to accept that.”
