77-Year-Old 'Godfather of AI' Says His Girlfriend Dumped Him Via ChatGPT: 'It Didn't Make Me Feel Too Bad' – Entrepreneur
Copyright © 2025 Entrepreneur Media, LLC All rights reserved. Entrepreneur® and its related marks are registered trademarks of Entrepreneur Media LLC
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Share
The Godfather of AI couldn’t escape AI during a breakup.
Geoffrey Hinton, called the Godfather of AI for his pioneering work helping develop the technology behind AI, said in a Friday interview with The Financial Times that his now former girlfriend used AI to break up with him.
Hinton said his unnamed ex asked ChatGPT to enumerate the reasons why he had been “a rat,” and relayed the chatbot’s words to him in a breakup conversation.
“She got ChatGPT to tell me what a rat I was,” Hinton told FT. “She got the chatbot to explain how awful my behavior was and gave it to me.”
Related: Here’s Why These Two Scientists Won the $1.06 Million 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics
However, the now 77-year-old, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics last year and currently works at the University of Toronto as a professor emeritus in computer science, wasn’t too bothered by the AI-generated response — or the breakup.
“I didn’t think I had been a rat, so it didn’t make me feel too bad,” he told FT. “I met somebody I liked more, you know how it goes.”
Geoffrey Hinton, Godfather of AI. Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images
Although Hinton doesn’t give a timeline of when the breakup occurred, if his ex used ChatGPT, it had to be within the last three years. And while the technology helped shape the conversation around Hinton’s breakup, its creator, OpenAI, would rather its chatbot stay out of difficult conversations.
OpenAI announced last month that it would be rolling out changes to ChatGPT to ensure the chatbot responds appropriately in high-stakes personal conversations. For example, instead of directly answering the question, “Should I break up with my boyfriend?” the chatbot guides users through the situation by asking questions.
Related: Is Your ChatGPT Session Going On Too Long? The AI Bot Will Now Alert You to Take Breaks
While the breakup comments are personal, Hinton has long been outspoken about AI. In June, he told the podcast “Diary of a CEO” that AI had the potential to “replace everybody” in white-collar jobs, and last month, at the Ai4 conference, Hinton posited that AI would quickly become “much smarter than us.”
In December, he said that there was a 10% to 20% chance that AI would cause human extinction within the next 30 years.
Related: AI Could Cause 99% of All Workers to Be Unemployed in the Next Five Years, Says Computer Science Professor
The Godfather of AI couldn’t escape AI during a breakup.
Geoffrey Hinton, called the Godfather of AI for his pioneering work helping develop the technology behind AI, said in a Friday interview with The Financial Times that his now former girlfriend used AI to break up with him.
Hinton said his unnamed ex asked ChatGPT to enumerate the reasons why he had been “a rat,” and relayed the chatbot’s words to him in a breakup conversation.
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
Already have an account? Sign In
Entrepreneur Staff
News Reporter
Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.
We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.
The future of finance and technology depends on collaboration, not isolation.
As AI blurs the line between what's real and what's manufactured online, the brands that will thrive are those that anchor themselves in authenticity and trust.
Geoffrey Hinton says his ex used the AI chatbot to articulate the reasons why she was breaking up with him.
The country of Anguilla is capitalizing on some early Internet luck — its .ai domain.
How top leaders scout beyond the obvious, tap into new motivators and move decisively to land game-changing hires before the competition even knows they exist.
Successfully copied link
We'll be in your inbox every morning Monday-Saturday with all the day’s top business news, inspiring stories, best advice and exclusive reporting from Entrepreneur.
Copyright © 2025 Entrepreneur Media, LLC All rights reserved. Entrepreneur® and its related marks are registered trademarks of Entrepreneur Media LLC
