One man has had the unfortunate reality of finding out that his supposed 'long-distance' girlfriend was simply just an AI chatbot, and to make matters worse it scammed him out of roughly $27,000.
Recent years have seen AI-based dating technology rocket in popularity, with popular internet figures like the Hawk Tuah girl creating their own AI dating apps, and 'dystopian' humanoid robot girlfriends that are powered by artificial intelligence technology.
While most instances of AI dating are largely harmless, if not a nightmarish in some cases, there have also been an increase in reports that scammers are now utilizing similar tech in order to extort money out of innocent individuals.
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There are ways that you can tell that you're speaking to an AI as opposed to a real person, but with the rapid advancements in associated tech it's becoming harder and harder for even tech-savvy individually to stay clued in - especially when wearing the rose-tinted glasses of love.
Most famous of these instances involved a woman who was scammed out of roughly $850,000 after falling in love with an AI-generated imitation of Brad Pitt, and recent reports from China indicate that a similar situation has occurred once more.
As per the Independent, a Chinese man identified as 'Mr. Liu' realized that what he thought was his long-distance girlfriend was actually an AI creation, and this unfortunately came to light after he'd sent over 200,000 yuan, which is roughly $27,000.
Liu began interacting with a so-called Ms. Jiao, who had sent him pictures and videos online, but all of the media that he'd received was created by a team of scammers through generative AI or combined images.
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Jiao then began sending fake medical bills, requesting the financial assistance of Mr. Liu, on top of requests that he help her fund a business of her own.
Police explained that Liu had never met Ms. Jiao throughout the time that they had been talking, believing the pictures and videos to be enough 'proof' that she was indeed who she said she was - never mind her not even existing in the first place.
Catfishing - the practice of pretending to be someone else online, specifically within romantic contexts - is certainly nothing new, and has been an ongoing practice for almost as long as the internet has been a thing.
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However, with advancements in AI it's only natural that catfishing efforts would become more complex and challenging to decipher.
It has become a perfect hunting ground for bad actors to take advantage of vulnerable people, especially as romance often leaves people more willing to part with money, and experts continue to warn against fake relationships, encouraging people to practice caution when dating online.