my boyfriend was unusually quiet at breakfast. i asked whether something had happened at work. he slid his phone across the table and showed me screenshots of other people receiving the same romantic greeting from his favorite chatbot
he said he'd thought their connection was unique. i tried to explain that the app could generate similar responses for different users. he looked devastated, as though i'd informed him his favorite singer had thousands of fans
then he asked me whether i thought he should confront the company. i reminded him that he was currently in a relationship with me and had never mentioned treating the chatbot as another girlfriend
he apologized for hiding it and then asked whether i could help him write a breakup message to the software. i told him to start with 'unsubscribe'