The yr was 2010. I used to be a jobless king on a Wednesday afternoon, lounging in my well-lit Tamil Nadu engineering hostel room, having bunked the afternoon lessons. Round 2.30 pm, my finest buddy barged in like he’d seen a ghost. He tossed me his Nokia Specific Music cellphone, the poor factor buzzing with a textual content from his highschool sweetheart: “Hello.”
That single syllable had lowered him to a puddle. He began pacing like a caged parrot. I informed him to take a seat down. He sat, switched to Tamil and blurted, “I don’t know what to answer. You chat along with her.”
So I did. For the following 4 hours, I used to be his stunt double in romance, thumb-typing teenage knowledge into that clunky keypad. By night, that they had nearly walked into “we’re a pair” territory. Months later, he nonetheless got here again for drafts: love notes, apologies, birthday messages. By 2017, I used to be at their marriage ceremony reception when his bride noticed me and laughed, “Oh whats up, you’re the one I fell in love with.”
It was a joke. However not fully.
Story continues beneath this advert
Reduce to 2025. I see associates outsourcing the identical job to AI. Fights are patched up by chatbots, apologies polished smoother than a freshly buffed automotive, love notes assembled quicker than I might sort “Hello” again on that Nokia. What was once my part-time gig is now an app characteristic.
However right here’s the true query: is that this intelligent, or is it emotional plagiarism?
I’ll admit, if ChatGPT had been round once I fumbled via breakups, I may need thrown it a determined immediate: “Make me sound sorry but additionally not pathetic.” The bot would have produced one thing Shakespearean. However would it not have carried my awkwardness? My remorse? Or simply padded my mess with adjectives? Generally the stutter and stumble are the purpose. That’s how somebody is aware of you imply it.
Let’s be sincere, we’ve already let tech play Cupid. (Supply: Freepik)
And but, I can’t dismiss it. A buddy as soon as confirmed me a love message drafted by AI. It was corny, filmy, excessive — and his girlfriend melted. This man, who as soon as thought romance peaked with “wyd?”, immediately had her gushing. If that isn’t proof that context issues greater than originality, I don’t know what’s.
Story continues beneath this advert
Let’s be sincere, we’ve already let tech play Cupid. Relationship apps swipe us into one another’s lives like some digital Yente. In that circus, possibly AI isn’t a gatecrasher. Possibly it’s the goofy marriage counsellor, scribbling notes, sometimes making sense.
I even examined it. I fed an AI a faux combat state of affairs. Out got here an apology so neat, so balanced, so dripping with maturity, I practically forwarded it to my exes. But when I had truly used it again then, they might’ve sniffed the circuitry in two seconds flat. I don’t speak like that. People don’t speak like that. We are saying silly issues. We repeat ourselves. We throw in a “yaar” or an emoji we remorse later. That’s the feel of being actual.
Nonetheless, I get the attraction. Is it lazy? Possibly. But when the bot turns into the coaching wheels that get you speaking, is that theft or simply scaffolding? Isn’t it like hiring a ghostwriter to your coronary heart till you be taught to write down your individual strains?
What fascinates me is how {couples} are turning this into an inside joke. A badly written bot-poem turns into the factor you snicker about collectively. “Look what Grok wrote for me” is the brand new “my buddy informed me to say this.” The machine isn’t changing the sensation. It’s simply giving us one other prop within the theatre of romance.
Story continues beneath this advert
Which is the purpose, actually. Love was by no means tidy. Now it’s simply messier, with extra instruments to journey over. Whether or not you name it a phrase thief or a love coach, AI is already within the room. Generally it’s the third wheel, generally it’s the wingman.
The guts, cussed as ever, nonetheless needs what it needs. The remainder is simply copy-paste.
Thoughts the Coronary heart makes an attempt to uncover the unstated in {our relationships}—or the over-discussed, with out nuance—spanning solo paths, household bonds, and romantic hopes. Be a part of us to find the whys of our ties.
