Artificial intelligence has become part of everyday life. People use AI tools to draft emails, summarize documents, and even help plan vacations. But as AI-generated text becomes harder to distinguish from human writing, some say they have started questioning whether the messages they receive actually come from the people they know.
That uncertainty recently fueled a viral discussion on Reddit where a woman claimed the man she had started dating appeared to be using ChatGPT to write his text messages. The woman shared her story in the r/MildlyInfuriating subreddit under the username Healermoonchild. The post quickly attracted thousands of comments and votes. Users debated whether relying on AI for personal communication crosses a line.
“I had a feeling he was using ChatGPT,” she wrote in the post. She then explained that the style of his messages seemed familiar. She claimed she tested her theory by pasting one of her own texts into ChatGPT. She then asked the chatbot to generate a reply. The response, she said, matched the man’s message.
Suspected ChatGPT leads to relationship doubts
In her post, the woman goes on to say the pair had gone on two dates. The dates themselves went well. However, she expressed frustration over what she described as a lack of genuine effort in their text conversations. “Every answer he gives me does not come from him,” she wrote. She added that she no longer knew how he would naturally communicate.
Because the claim comes from a social media post, it remains unverified. The man involved has not publicly responded.
Many commenters sympathized with the woman. One highly upvoted response argued that using AI to handle relationship communication could create larger problems down the road.
“People using ChatGPT in their relationships is one of the more troubling civilian uses of LLMs that I’ve seen,” the commenter wrote. “If they can’t be bothered to think for themselves enough to text back, I would assume you’re going to have larger problems moving forward,” the comment added.
Others suggested humorous ways to test whether someone might be relying too heavily on AI. One commenter offered a recommendation: “Make him hold 3 fingers in front of his face.”
The “3-finger test” is outdated
The so-called “3-finger test” referred to in that comment did not originate with text messaging. It emerged from viral videos involving alleged AI-generated video calls and deepfake scams.
In some older examples, scammers using face-swapping software reportedly struggled when asked to hold three fingers in front of their faces. The software at that time had difficulty rendering the gesture accurately. However, the test has significant limitations.
Modern AI video tools have improved substantially. More importantly, the test has no relevance to determining whether someone used ChatGPT to write a text message. The commenter seemed to suggest using the 3-finger test to determine if she had been dating is even real.
The Reddit post arrives amid broader debates over AI’s role in dating and relationships. Stories about people using chatbots to communicate or share secrets with or about those close to them have become increasingly common.
Whether the man in this case actually used ChatGPT remains unknown. Yet the discussion highlights a growing question in the AI era: when a message feels polished, thoughtful, or unusually well written, how can anyone be certain a human wrote it?
Published: Jun 9, 2026 07:00 pm