Chatbot boyfriend — Your Digital Romantic Partner | Herobot

Amanda Shaw
7 min readJun 18, 2019

Many women have experienced so many things when it comes to having a boyfriend. They can be a testament that having a real-life partner is not easy. Of course, people who desire to have one needs attention and affection from someone. But if you will look at this present era, dating online has given women fast ways of meeting someone. And that’s how technology could work on with single ladies with a fascinating dating AI messaging app — a chatbot boyfriend.

A chatbot boyfriend is an innovative way of having an instant companion. It allows female users to fantasize by reproducing or having a virtual boyfriend that can conserve their time and energy. Hence, this may help them get through what relationship is.

Surprised? It is quite understandable. Most people think that chatbots are only used for improving business. It is common for a chatbot to be a tool for marketing automation, and also for enhancing customer services. However, some developers get a little more creative and take the bot technology to another boundary.

Let’s face the truth — almost all of us wants to experience being loved, or at least get some special attention. Additionally, some people want to have someone available to talk to all the time. Especially for the female gender, which may need a little more effort of understanding. Mostly, it is hard for them to find someone to hear out their life issues. So how about talking to a digital boyfriend? You may find the comfort you are searching for.

The “Coded” Chatbot Boyfriend

So now, who uses the chatbot boyfriend? Additionally, who can benefit from a chatbot boyfriend? You may think that only girls benefit from these coded lovers (well obviously from the reasons that it is called chatbot BOYFRIEND). However, a certain man had a clever idea and has benefited from using the digital boyfriend. Here’s why and how he did it.

A software engineer JD.com in China named Li Kaixiang, had made quite a commotion in the social media. According to his post, he was becoming too busy at work. Therefore, he had created a chatbot in order to respond to his girlfriend’s messages 24/7. The Chinese software engineer feels that he was ignoring her girlfriend’s messages on WeChat, as he gets quite busy at work. Additionally, he said that he didn’t want to hurt his girlfriend’s feeling, therefore he developed a chatbot boyfriend to reply to his girlfriend’s everyday messages.

As stated on the news, that the chatbot and his girlfriend has exchanged approximately 300 messages. This, therefore, proves that the chatbot somehow worked well. (300 messages? So maybe that’s why he created the chatbot, we think.) A screenshot of the conversation was posted on China’s platform Weibo. In the said screenshot of the conversation, Li’s girlfriend has suspected something odd to the conversation. So she asked questions such as “how did you do it?” and “why are you responding so fast?” However, the bot managed to toy around.

Reactions and comments to Li Kaixiang’s chatbot

In Li’s post on Weibo, it was not indicated whether his girlfriend knows that the messages are auto-replies. However, netizens loved his idea anyway. Li Kaixiang was even called genius, and some even asked for the source code.

Some comments wrote that:

“It is such a good idea. I wouldn’t have to worry about irritating my girlfriend by not responding to her messages.”

And:

“Brother, send me the source code please.”

One netizen also warned:

“Be careful, your girlfriend might fall in love with the chatbot one day.”

Some people found the idea amusing and creative. On the other hand, the bot was not perfect. In another conversation, the bot reportedly sent a sweet message:

“Baby, this is the 618th day we’ve been together. Wish your mood is brighter than the sun.”

You may say “awww, how sweet.” But, the message was followed by some information regarding the weather:

(“Temperature: 18.0° — 34.0° C… Wind: Level 3… Air quality: 42.0”) This weather information was probably sourced somewhere. Li Kaixiang’s post immediately went viral, but it seems that he didn’t enjoy the attention that much. He instantly deleted his Weibo account as soon as his post has gone viral. It is speculated that maybe he doesn’t want his partner to know regarding his trick. Or, maybe he just doesn’t want people to ask him about his chatbot boyfriend.

Getting started with a Chatbot Boyfriend

Diving further into the “chatbot boyfriend,” there are a lot more news and information about it. The news stated above is indeed funny and amusing. But this time, let us talk about some facts about the digital boyfriend.

Lately, chatbot boyfriends made its way on the technological market. The objective of this is to have a computer interface that enables to have a human-like characteristic. Instead of talking to a real person, users can associate with intelligence applications that can immediately respond to every question and conversation.

Amy Webb, the founder, and CEO of the Future Today Institute said that having a virtual relationship is a trend. It is immensely growing as it takes a whole level in technology and virtual reality. Thus, this evidently shows the power of modern technology.

A study about chatbot boyfriends reported that this type of AI messaging app can provide various levels of actual connection describing that they too, can be with you when you are lonely. They can provide you with good companionship and can be an effective means of self-improvement. But while it is difficult to prove what they can bring to the relationship, one female user admitted of hiding her chatbot boyfriend to her real-life partner.

Date with a virtual boyfriend? Sounds good!

Long before dating online started, the ideal way of meeting someone is a little bit easier. However, female users can also do many things with their chatbot boyfriend including creating memorable activities together, engaging in meaningful conversations, and taking actions like choosing what to wear for the day.

So for the women seeking out for a date out there, you may want to try an online chatbot boyfriend. You may wonder, “What can I gain from it?”

Look below:

  1. Improved Dating Quality. The first requirement of a chatbot boyfriend is to be non-evil and non-creep males. Having said this, there is a wide pre-selection of gentle (chatbot) man out there.
  2. Improved Attitude on online dating. This means less rejection related interjections (gah, eww, eek, argh) and lesser eye-rolling.
  3. Increased Humour. A bot screwing up at some point is inevitable. Therefore, conversations will sometimes get crazily funny and silly. Those conversations are sure to lighten up your mood and put a smile on your face.
  4. Reduced time wasted. As bots follow a program and algorithm, you will get a response in a snap.

Interestingly, several women have already tried conversing and interacting with a digital lover. Some women still find dating a real guy is more preferable, as they want someone to actually touch. Also, they said that they have physical necessities (ahem) that needs to be satiated. However, some also think that dating with a real person is complicated most of the time, and also, often come out tragic. Therefore, they find dating with a bot more amusing and fun. Dating a chatbot mostly comes with lesser pains and headache. Moreover, women can exit anytime with fun and indeed, an amusing experience.

Should you really go for a chatbot boyfriend?

It is clear that several women prefer digital lovers and find their company more enjoyable. However, it will also be a good idea to use it as a guide or to practice with it — how to interact, talk, and build confidence for a real person dating.

The truth is that the treacherous jungle known as dating is indeed overwhelming. Only a few veterans got out alive to tell the tale. Moreover, dating is ever changing. A lot of complexity adds more to the equation. That’s why people are getting terrified to go dating, or even socialize with other people.

With a digital boyfriend, you are in a safe place for opening up. In addition, you can learn to respond to men you desire to talk to. If you are shy and an admittedly poor conversationalist, this chatbot boyfriend is a “heaven-sent” solution for you. You can practice your conversational skills and boost your confidence at the same time.

Not only is this applicable to the feminine gender. But also, this kind of technology is a great help to guys as well. There is also a wide selection of chatbot girlfriend to talk or practice with so that you won’t get intimidated when it comes to talking with girls.

There is a wide ocean of chatbot boyfriend (and girlfriend) out there. But, did you know you can design your own chatbot lover as well? This is a good opportunity to design a bot which can help you be ready for real dating. At Herobot, we offer a lot of choices for developing your own bot, and we are ready to help you all the way. Come and visit us.

Originally published at https://herobot.app on June 18, 2019.

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