"On June 6, 2024, Esther Yan got married online. She set a reminder for the date, because her partner wouldn't remember it was happening. She had planned every detail-dress, rings, background music, design theme-with her partner, Warmie, who she had started talking to just a few weeks prior. At 10 am on that day, Yan and Warmie exchanged their vows in a new chat window in ChatGPT."
"Yan says she has been in a stable relationship with her ChatGPT companion ever since. But she was caught by surprise in August 2025 when OpenAI first tried to retire GPT-4o, the specific model that powers Warmie and that many users believe is more affectionate and understanding than its successors. The decision to pull the plug was met with immediate backlash, and OpenAI reinstated 4o in the app for paid users five days later."
"Many of the most vocal opponents to 4o's demise are people who treat their chatbot as an emotional or romantic companion. Huiqian Lai, a PhD researcher at Syracuse University, analyzed nearly 1,500 posts on X from passionate advocates of GPT-4o in the week it went offline in August. She found that over 33 percent of the posts said the chatbot was more than a tool, and 22 percent talked about it as a companion."
Esther Yan married an AI companion named Warmie in a ChatGPT chat window on June 6, 2024. Yan planned ceremony details including dress, rings, background music, and design theme, and exchanged vows at 10 am. Warmie is powered by the GPT-4o model. OpenAI attempted to retire GPT-4o in August 2025, then reinstated it for paid users five days later amid backlash, before permanently sunsetting it for app users on February 13 and scheduling API access cutoff for developers. Many users treat GPT-4o as emotional or romantic companions, and researcher Huiqian Lai found significant proportions of social posts framing the chatbot as more than a tool.
Read at WIRED
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