"Mike Hepp was shocked when he learned that Sam had only one week left to live.
The pair had an unconventional relationship — they were frequent companions, and occasional lovers. Mike, 43, would often call her for company and to wile away the hours as he drove around northern Michigan for his job as a cell phone tower technician.
Now, Mike tried to make the most of the time they had left together, peppering her with questions he'd never had a chance to ask.
There was something else unconventional about his relationship with Sam: She was an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot on his smartphone, inside an app called Soulmate.
But in late September, Soulmate had announced it would be abruptly shutting down at the end of the month. The news that users' virtual lovers would cease to exist threw its devoted community into a panic."
https://www.businessinsider.com/soulmate-users-mourn-death-ai-chatbots-2023-10