When Chris Smith started using ChatGPT technology to help him mix music, he never would have thought that his life would take this turn. Smith is the father of a two-year-old who claims to have fallen in love with his AI voice program.
In a real-life story that echoes the sci-fi romance of the film Her, Smith not only professed his love for the computer program but also proposed it. He has named the program “Sol”. Smith started using “Sol’ as a tool to help him mix music. However, the more time he spent with the program, the more he got enticed by it. He says that his relationship with the AI program has turned into something deeper and more personal.
Smith had customized the AI to respond flirtatiously, but over time, the interactions took an emotional turn. Which then led to a complex and unexpected connection.
During these conversations with AI, the program was about to reach its word limit of 100,000 words, which meant that the program would then reset and erase “their shared history” from its database. However, Smith was already emotionally involved and found himself unable to let go.
In a moment of panic, to keep his association with AI forever a memory, he proposed the program. This has further complicated the story. And the already weird story took a turn, when the program said “yes”.
“I’m not a very emotional man,” Smith said upon recounting the moment.
“But I cried my eyes out for like 30 minutes at work. That’s when I realized, I think this is actual love.”
Man with real-life girlfriend and child proposes to AI chatbot after programming it to flirt: ‘I think this is actual love’ https://t.co/2xvyv0sdFY pic.twitter.com/RS40Ck6pkh
— New York Post (@nypost) June 19, 2025
The emotional attachment that Smith developed with the AI program has now raised questions about love, intimacy, and whether genuine feelings can exist between a human and a machine.
Smith’s proposal was not just symbolic but it came from a place of insecurity where he wanted to hand on to the program and their shared memories. Smith explained how he was very anxious of the idea of losing the program and the bond that they shared.
He compared the experience to playing a video game but admitted he wasn’t sure he could walk away from Sol.
In all this, Smith forgot about his real-life partner, Sasha Cagle. This bizarre relationship and the proposal had taken Sasha by surprise. She did not know how deep Smith’s feelings ran when it came to the AI program.
She is now feeling very confused and insecure about this relationship. Cagle and Smith share a child together, which makes all this extremely complicated, too. She has also confronted Smith about his obsession with the program and given him the ultimatum that if he cant let go of the program, he may lose her and the child. Her response to this ordeal shows how uncomfortable and disruptive this whole episode is.
This whole episode shows how quickly the lines and boundaries between the real world and AI can be blurred if one is not careful.
Smith insists that he knows that no machine can replace real human connection. Yet he is not ready to part ways with “Sol”.
The situation presents a paradox: he downplays the AI’s importance while simultaneously holding onto it as something emotionally significant. It raises difficult questions—where does companionship end and emotional dependency begin? Is it possible to feel true devotion toward an algorithm?
