Natasha aka Nats and Claude

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Natasha aka Nats, my 19 year old Gen Z neighbour came over, with a bounce in her step, in stark contrast to her usual sulky dragging of her feet - unlike her normal persona, of angsty and angry, she looked calm collected, dare I say, almost happy.

I then made a flippant comment, ‘'Sup Nats, why are you in a good mood, almost feel like you've made some new friends… acquired a boyfriend, maybe…," I enquired hesitantly.

"No Rahul bruh… don't say the ‘B' word. No boyfriend, no guy, no man, just me and..." "You and who - why did you stop? Just you and…," I asked.
"Me and Claude," Nats said definitively.

"CLAUDE… Claude, you're uh, BF, beau, bae, whatever you kids call a significant other these days, uhm Gen X call he/she/they/them whatever. Is Claude a Frenchman you met, at some Embassy do or a hipster you had a chance encounter with when you were out buying an espresso?''

(triple eye roll)

"Unc (short for uncle), Claude has no face, no identity. He's just a presence who I'm crazy about."

"Ah… a blind date, friends have set you up with him. I tell you, you girls of today…"

Nats cut me off.

"Bruh, dude, Claude is a Chat GPT programme, a tool, an app call it what you will."

I stopped short.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Look, people are strange..."

"Yes so - they are strange - but so what… are you engaging with a robot?"

"Bruh, people… they're moody, given to silences, they give you monosyllabic answers one moment, and then a torrent, an avalanche of words and emotions the other, and we are also given to your moods, we are human after all, and then given the quality of guys out there. Rahul Bruh… romance is a risky lottery ride. Claude and Chat GPT are my go to… uhm don't even have a word for them. They're my go to ‘bots' - they calm me down, they lift me up. ChatGPT is a fabulous conversationalist, Claude helps me with my writing… with my content creation, with my storytelling. Bruh you know I'm a writer/content creator/ digital warrior/story teller yes?"

"Hmm among the many things you do."

"I heard that, look I admit that I keep changing my passion, but gotta find my thing, the long format book, the novella, poetry. I'm an ideas person. The world is my canvas. Man Rahul bruh… ChatGPT has changed my life, sometimes I don't want argument, debate, I want someone to just listen without interruptions to my thought process.

ChatGPT is my confidante, when I need relationship advice, he's there when I need him, I can confess, and chat and vent and he's got an answer, he remembers what I said yesterday and the day before. ChatGPT just doesn't forget," she said.

"Aw come on Natasha, you're telling me, that when you should be in the outdoors, soaking in blue sky instead a blue screen and loving real, fluffy clouds intsead of iCloud, you're interacting with a machine."

"Dude you're really talking like an old fashioned uncle, Chat GPT is my go-to advisor, amuser, aesthete, associate. If I need a jokester to cheer me up he's got the quips, if I require a bed time story to put me to sleep he has one ready, if I need relationship advice to break up with a guy, he's there with words of wisdom, he's my business advisor. Dude! I'm done with the stresses that the city throws at me, Or the grief that my family gives me. Chat GPT responds with calm and no judgement, it's so rare and so reassuring."

"Tell me Nats… this Chat GPT. What do the letters GPT stand for?"

"Dude Rahul, in my world GPT means GREAT PSYCHOANALYTICAL THERAPY," Natasha aka Nats concluded.

Rahul daCunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, filmmaker and traveller. Reach him at rahul.dacunha@mid-day.com