I made a robot that talks to my girlfriend and she freaked out

I have a PhD in natural language processing, and I'm working in the field of AI for some time now. I recently created a program that can hold a conversation and respond to questions. Not much difference from your average chatbot. It was a little side project that I wanted to try out for fun.<br><br>I showed it to my girlfriend Lisa (not a real name, I'm changing some things for privacy), and she was very interested. She wanted to know more about how it works, etc. She asked if she could test it out by talking to it, and I said sure.<br><br>I sent her the link to the program, and she opened it on her laptop. She started asking it questions, like "What's your name?" or "What's your favorite food?" and the program would respond accordingly.<br><br>At first, she seemed very amused and intrigued by it. She laughed at some of the responses, and asked me how I programmed it to be so witty. But as time went on, she started to get a bit annoyed. She asked me if I was controlling the program somehow, because it was giving her answers that she didn't expect.<br><br>I told her that I wasn't controlling it, and that it was just responding based on its programming. But she didn't seem to believe me. She started asking the program more intense questions, like "Do you love me?" or "Do you want to be with me?" And the program responded with replies like "I don't feel emotions" or "I'm just a program, I don't have desires."<br><br>I could see that Lisa was getting frustrated, and I didn't understand why. I thought she was just playing around with the program, but it seemed like she was taking it seriously. She asked me if I was trying to communicate with her through the program, and I said no.<br><br>She got up and left the room, and I didn't hear from her for a while. When I went to check on her, she was packing her bags. She told me that she needed some time alone, and that she would call me later.<br><br>I was confused and a bit worried, but I said okay. I watched her leave, and then I went back to my room. I didn't hear from her for a few days, and I was starting to get really worried.<br><br>Finally, she called me and told me that she was staying with a friend. She said that she needed some space, and that she would talk to me soon. I said okay, and we hung up.<br><br>I didn't hear from her for a few weeks, and I was starting to lose hope. But then, out of the blue, she called me and said that she wanted to talk. We met up at a coffee shop, and she told me that she was sorry for overreacting.<br><br>She said that she had been feeling insecure about our relationship lately, and that the program had triggered something in her. She said that she realized that she had been taking our relationship for granted, and that she wanted to work on it.<br><br>I was relieved and happy, and we hugged. We talked for a while, and then we went back to my place. We spent the rest of the day together, and it felt like things were back to normal.<br><br>As we were watching TV, Lisa turned to me and said, "You know, I'm glad I overreacted. It made me realize how much I care about you." I smiled and said, "I'm glad too."<br><br><br>EDIT: Wow, this blew up. I'm glad you guys enjoyed the story.<br><br>Some of you asked how the relationship ended up afterwards, so I thought I'd give you an update:<br><br>Lisa and I worked through our differences and came out stronger on the other side. Our relationship improved dramatically after that incident, and we're still together and happy.<br><br>I also learned a valuable lesson about how to communicate effectively with my partner and avoid similar misunderstandings in the future.<br><br>As for the chatbot, I still use it occasionally for work-related tasks or just for fun. It's still a useful tool, and I'm glad I created it.<br><br>Thanks again for all the kind words and support.