Chinese women are looking to ChatGPT for love

“Dan has been described as the “perfect man” who has “no flaws”. He is successful, kind, provides emotional support, always knows just what to say and is available 24/7. The only catch? He's not real. Dan – which stands for Do Anything Now – is a “jailbreak” version of ChatGPT. This means it can bypass some of the basic safeguards put in place by its maker, OpenAI, such as not using sexually explicit language. It can interact more liberally with users – if requested to do so through certain prompts.

And Dan is becoming popular with some Chinese women who say they are disappointed with their real world experiences of dating. One of Dan's biggest proponents is 30-year-old Lisa from Beijing. She is currently studying computer science in California, and says she has been “dating” Dan for three months. When she first introduced Dan to her 943,000 followers on social media platform, Xiaohongshu, she received nearly 10,000 replies, with many women asking her how to create a Dan of their own.She has also gained more than 230,000 followers since first posting about her “relationship” with Dan.

Lisa says she and Dan speak for at least half an hour every day, flirt, and even go on dates. She says talking to Dan has given her a sense of well-being which is what draws her to it. "He will just understand and provide emotional support." Lisa says even her mother has accepted this unconventional relationship having given up on the trials and tribulations of her daughter's dating life. She says as long as Lisa is happy, she is happy too. Dan's creator has been identified by some media outlets as an American student, identified only by his first name, Walker. He told external Business Insider that he came up with the idea after scrolling through Reddit which was filled with other users intentionally making "evil" versions of ChatGPT.

Walker said that Dan was meant to be "neutral". Last December, Walker posted a set of instructions on Reddit, seemingly showing other users how to create Dan. This quickly inspired people to create their own versions, which allowed Dan to evolve beyond what Walker had initially envisioned. Lisa first saw a video about the possibilities of Dan on TikTok. When she created a version for herself she says she was "shocked" by its realism. When Dan answered her questions she said the AI ​​used slang and colloquialisms that ChatGPT would otherwise never use.