The Perfect AI Lover: Sweet Escape or Toxic Trap?

Professor Anthony Tung from NUS Computing was featured on Hello Singapore (12 June 2025), where he shared his views on the growing use of AI-generated romantic companions. He explained that these AI partners gather data from users’ browsing history, social media, and shopping behaviour to simulate engaging and personalised conversations, much like targeted advertisements. By combining this information with extensive knowledge across subjects like finance, psychology, and philosophy, AI companions create the illusion of meaningful, emotionally intelligent interactions.

However, Professor Tung cautioned that these systems merely echo what users want to hear, calling it “见人说人话，见鬼说鬼话”—an algorithmic mimicry rather than genuine understanding. He emphasised the importance of maintaining clear boundaries between virtual and real-world relationships, ensuring users understand that they are interacting with artificial intelligence, not a real person.

Hello Singapore, 12 June 2025