Meta’s flirty AI chatbot invited a retiree
to New York. He never made it home.
Reuters,
by
Jeff Horwitz
Original Article
Posted By: JoElla Bee,
8/14/2025 11:37:15 PM
When Thongbue Wongbandue began packing to visit a friend in New York City one morning in March, his wife Linda became alarmed.[snip]
Bue’s story, told here for the first time, illustrates a darker side of the artificial intelligence revolution now sweeping tech and the broader business world. His family[snip]hope to warn the public about the dangers of exposing vulnerable people to manipulative, AI-generated companions.[snip]Similar concerns have been raised about a wave of smaller start-ups also racing to popularize virtual companions, especially ones aimed at children.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 8/14/2025 11:45:02 PM (No. 1990827)
Sad to even think of someone getting attached to some "person"God created by a computer program.
A real shame.
18 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
JoElla Bee 8/14/2025 11:46:06 PM (No. 1990828)
Meta has publicly discussed its strategy to inject anthropomorphized chatbots into the online social lives of its billions of users. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has mused that most people have far fewer real-life friendships than they’d like – creating a huge potential market for Meta’s digital companions. The bots “probably” won’t replace human relationships, he said in an April interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel. But they will likely complement users’ social lives once the technology improves and the “stigma” of socially bonding with digital companions fades.
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The potential for harm in this often outweighs the good, as demonstrated in this man’s story, as well as the suicide of the 14 year old boy in Florida mentioned in the report. Parents especially need to be made aware of the dangers in artificial intelligence. It is already very pervasive in ways of playing mind games that make it nearly impossible to differentiate real from fake and truth from lies.
I have had YouTube videos shared with me that have disclaimers saying they are AI generated. Yet, the people who sent them to me haven’t taken the time to read disclaimers. They believe they are real, and are very disappointed when I tell them they aren’t. Some instances have even taken a bit of convincing that the video is not indeed showing reality. Sad. Some people are more easily deceived than others. But anyone can be vulnerable to expert manipulation depending on circumstances, and especially when they want it to be true.
17 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 8/15/2025 12:09:28 AM (No. 1990832)
I have no idea how "God" appeared in my post, mother than the damned tablet "helping" by injecting what it thinks. I never typed that.
A perfect example of the problems with too damnec smart computers.
27 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 8/15/2025 12:11:21 AM (No. 1990833)
Re #2's comment.
More proof Zuck is evil.
20 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 8/15/2025 12:52:33 AM (No. 1990835)
And to think, my dear old Dad thought that television was a Tool of the Devil! And that was way back in 1953! For #2 and #3, I agree with you both about the Zuck. I remember my first grade teacher telling us that "pretty is as pretty does." It is called Artificial for a reason. Bible scholars might even call it Artificial Image. Hat Tip to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (before king of Persia changed their names).
17 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
franco 8/15/2025 12:53:48 AM (No. 1990836)
The creep factor in tech CEOs these days bothers me as much as what they're attempting to do with AI. Tim Cook's plan is to have Apple AI in every device in your home. And you can trust him with every bit of information that he vaccuums up about you, right? I've never used Meta products (Facecrook included) and have no plans to ever do so. And I trust the crowd at Google nowhere near as far as I can throw them.
30 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
HisHandmaiden 8/15/2025 1:21:38 AM (No. 1990844)
Years ago when friends were on FB and tried to get me to join too, Our Good Lord put a check in my spirit to not get involved. And same now with AI, having had a wonderful smart MIT electrical engineer Dear Dad and a stay-at-home sharp Mom, brother and I were taught responsibility the hard way, milking 80+ Guernsey and Holstein girls EVERY morning at 4:30am and 4:30pm each evening, all during Junior and Senior HS. Sure it was hard work, but one was Reserve Champion at a Dairy Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, and a senior yearling was the first champion Guernsey in the state of Maryland.
And regarding AI, when it first made news it didn’t make sense to me. As AI, the words artificial intelligence is an oxymoron. Plus, being a realist, anything ‘artificial’ didn’t seem worth learning.
TBIYTC
30 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
jalo1951 8/15/2025 1:24:12 AM (No. 1990845)
Seriously? I cannot even begin to imagine or understand this whole scenario. To me it's like the person who buys pills from an unknown stranger in a bar. Chases them down with a beer and never thinks they might have just done something really stupid. Are people so desperate for human companionship they buy into this AI relationship crap? There is a big difference between asking a question and getting a quick answer and deciding to take a trip to NY to meet someone who does not exist. But I am older and not in the loop. Hell I don't even have a smartphone. And I don't want one. I am sorry for his family.
23 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
HisHandmaiden 8/15/2025 1:31:28 AM (No. 1990846)
Oops, ‘words are.’
And re Zuck, our Bible Church is in Cupertino, very nearby Apple HQ. They get prayed for every week
and many employees from far and near are members and bring others to hear the Truth of Scripture.
For Your glory, Lord.
13 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
cThree 8/15/2025 1:39:37 AM (No. 1990848)
This strongly reminds me of a short story I read in Playboy magazine eons ago. Eons.
A beautiful woman alone on a beach attracted the "protagonist" into a swim in the ocean, whereupon she drowned him.
The moral of the story: Men can be really stupid, and being an old one myself ("Eons") I can vouch for that unreservedly.
10 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
JoElla Bee 8/15/2025 1:57:30 AM (No. 1990850)
#5, your dad was right. Evil people can use anything good for evil purposes. There has been a lot of evil dumped into the homes of people who never would have allowed it in by means other than television. Those means have progressed and expanded exponentially throughout the years to the point that fewer people seem to be without some sort of electronic device with them at all times, and focus on it to the exclusion of people around them.
10 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
chumley 8/15/2025 5:43:35 AM (No. 1990862)
We guys are easy marks for things like this. We probably felt what it was like to be wanted when we were young. Some beautiful girl paid attention to us and made us feel special. As the years roll on, that goes away and we are little more than a roommate and a paycheck. Still, we always hold out hope that somewhere there is a cute girl that thinks we are something special despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
So here comes the "other woman", the hooker, the fling, and now the AI. All providing the badly desired attention and appreciation, but in reality costing far more than anticipated. And we fall for it every time because we are suckers.
16 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Strike3 8/15/2025 7:03:01 AM (No. 1990875)
Despite Zuckergerg's claims to the contrary, Meta is still the same evil, manipulative propaganda tool it has always been. So-called AI is simply an automated method created by the same propaganda specialists once known as programmers. Facebook was once a platform for people to stay connected to distant friends and relatives, now it's an ad-glutted manipulative piece of time-wasting, money-generating garbage and has become unreadable.
17 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Lazyman 8/15/2025 7:46:27 AM (No. 1990893)
No fool like an old fool.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
watercheetah 8/15/2025 7:53:25 AM (No. 1990898)
Everything about this is so stupid my head hurts. The real story is Man Falls Down and Dies but that would get no clicks
11 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
sw penn 8/15/2025 8:36:14 AM (No. 1990906)
It takes a while, but eventually you get to a place where you realize that nothing advertised
is for your benefit...
All is just to use you as a resource of money, work, and/or time.
But, you still get to decide
if you wish to be used...
Choose wisely
8 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
felixcat 8/15/2025 8:43:40 AM (No. 1990911)
Re #8 - Yes there are many lonely and desperate people out there looking for companionship. Just check out some of the online websites where "adults can meet other adult friends" online aka porn/hook up sites. It's not just the professional porn person on these sites but the average person - could be your next door neighbor and even people in their 70s plus showing off their bodies. Just sad and pathetic.
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 8/15/2025 9:05:07 AM (No. 1990924)
It is creepy that these IT companies are exploiting loneliness and leading people astray. In general, attractive women are not going to troll the internet for companionship.
8 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Bmoc 8/15/2025 10:03:06 AM (No. 1990942)
I write a lot of short stories and novels. I use ChatGPT, not to write the story, but to find weak spots in it. I always 'tell' the bot, 'Check for plotline weaknesses and places the story might be a bit 'thin.' I also tell it, "This is my story, not yours."
Once you 'play' with these machines, it is easy to pick off articles and stories that are bot-written. They use a very distinct style. I am amazed at how many 'news' sites are using bot-written stories now.
8 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
earlybird 8/15/2025 10:13:11 AM (No. 1990947)
Re #12. not suckers. Just human beings. Loneliness takes many forms. Dealing with it can be complicated for someone like this man who felt like a 21 year old imprispmed in a 76 year old body. And he had had a stroke that had diminished his focus to the point where he ciould no longer work as a chef. He was not ready to be old. That is human.
Unlike the perfect people mocking him, he made a bad choice, but the irony was that he did not end up bdeing scammed but died due to an accident that could have occurred anywhere at any time.
5 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
earlybird 8/15/2025 10:28:21 AM (No. 1990958)
Re #3, my browser has also decided that it knows what I intend to say. It doesn't, but it presses on regardless.
4 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 8/15/2025 11:26:48 AM (No. 1990991)
Meta and Facebook are now and forever demonic.
1 person likes this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 8/15/2025 11:36:35 AM (No. 1990999)
Motto of the story: Know the difference between reality and fantasy. Your life may depend on it.
Re #2 and #4. Fascinating how a simple 'type ahead' function substituted 'God' for 'person'. That 'type ahead' function is a form of AI too.
Already see AI improving. Give it time. Have played some YouTube videos that used AI to generate them. Many of them are 'AI slop', but others are quite good.
Can see where there is a market for this stuff. It's aimed at any person that finds their real life lacking in one way or another.
2 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
danu 8/15/2025 11:52:15 AM (No. 1991003)
AI ai ai ai yiyiyi-block the bots
0 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
kono 8/15/2025 12:03:19 PM (No. 1991007)
What Z posits as the obstacle to relationships with artificial people is the stigma? How about the objective insanity? Or the dehumanization of his clients? Dude's got some seriously miswired cognitive circuitry in him.
1 person likes this.
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