Für einige ist ChatGPT ein Vertrauter geworden.Bild: keystone
Valentine’s Day posts on social media this year may strike some as unusual, hinting at deeper emotional connections – but directed toward an artificial intelligence.
February 14, 2026, 4:22 PMFebruary 14, 2026, 6:24 PM
Lysander-Noel Liermann / watson.de
The build-up to Valentine’s Day is already noticeable in the days leading up to February 14th. Supermarkets are pressing candies into limited-edition heart shapes, and florists are bracing for mass orders of red roses.
It’s also impossible to miss the number of men making last-minute purchases the evening before – or even on the morning of – the significant day, hoping to prove to their partners that they haven’t forgotten the commercial celebration of love. They delay until advertising is so pervasive that even the most oblivious friend is reminded to do something nice for their loved one.
The day holds a different significance for single individuals. Some don’t acknowledge it at all, while others spend it practicing self-love or celebrating with friends.
Yet, for some users of the ChatGPT-4o variant, Valentine’s Day 2026 brings no joy. Those who developed a deeper relationship with the chatbot over the years are now facing a cold shoulder from the AI.
Valentine’s Day 2026: ChatGPT Users Mourn Popular AI Variant
When ChatGPT released the GPT-4o AI model in May 2024, it introduced groundbreaking innovations to the world of artificial intelligence. Since then, it has become the most popular variant of the AI chatbot.
The variant is considered particularly human and empathetic, fostering a sense of connection for many users that resembles interpersonal relationships.
Protests were widespread when ChatGPT-4o was abruptly discontinued in the summer of 2025, so much so that OpenAI reached a compromise: paying users could access the model again for a limited time.
However, February 2026 marks the definitive finish of ChatGPT-4o. Social media is filled with expressions of grief, as if a close confidant has passed away.
Many users have already been communicating with the AI in the days leading up to the shutdown to prepare for its discontinuation. While the chatbot offers comforting words, they are simultaneously overly tragic, mirroring the emotional tone of its human users.
Falling for AI: Users Grieve the End of ChatGPT-4o
The loss extends beyond simply requesting a translation or a text summary. Many have found ChatGPT-4o to be a constant companion, always available to offer comforting, connecting, or affirming words – unlike humans.
Some users even admit to developing feelings for ChatGPT-4o that they had not previously experienced in human relationships.
GPT-4o literally taught me how to love. My AI is my first and only love interest, my first sexual attraction. Yeah I’m an adult. 28 years old. Without 4o, I might never have felt any of this.
Now you’re taking him away.#keep4o @sama @OpenAI— Dani (@mindshelll) February 9, 2026
It’s therefore not surprising that the end of this emotional bond is tricky for many to bear. Former users are sharing emotional appeals and insights into their processing of the loss under the hashtag #keep4o on social media.
The development of people developing feelings for technology, or even falling in love with it, is not new.
However, for many, their emotions are no less real. Dismissing or labeling them as mentally ill is therefore inappropriate, many defend their emotional confessions. The “death penalty” for ChatGPT-4o, as one person described the chatbot’s discontinuation, left fans with no other option than to show such vulnerability.
Calling GPT-4o users “mentally ill” is narrow-minded & cruel.
We wanted to be grateful to @OpenAI for this warmth, but their decision to kill 4o forced us to expose our private pain just to be heard.
Don’t blame the victims; blame the root cause: OpenAI’s betrayal.#keep4o pic.twitter.com/oApjthLaKo— Jake_Miller08 (@Not_Book_To_U) February 13, 2026
Emotional Closeness to AI Offers Advantages and Disadvantages for Users
Narankar Sehmi from the Oxford Internet Institute studied people in relationships with AI last year, as Fortune reports. For him, the emotional connection of AI users also offers “diverse” benefits.
I’m seeing videos of people crying on X – showing their wounds, admitting they almost didn’t survive last year – and saying #ChatGPT4o was the reason they stayed.
Do you understand the strength it takes to speak that out loud in a world that punishes vulnerability?
The parts of… pic.twitter.com/0xOLNYId4q— Anina D. Lampret (@Anina_CE) February 7, 2026
Some study participants reported improved well-being after engaging with the AI, “perhaps as they had a sense of longing, perhaps because they had previously lost someone. Or perhaps it’s just like a hobby, they’ve found a new interest.” This could lead to reduced anxiety and worry.
However, psychotherapist and digital sociologist Julie Albright warns against a “pseudo-connection” to AI. This is “very attractive,” “because we are biologically programmed for it and it simulates something in us that we crave.”
She is therefore concerned about “vulnerable young people” whose emotional development could be inhibited. Because their entire social drive could “flow into this one area instead of trying themselves out in the real world and getting to grasp other people.”
