The lack of tact of the Alexa connected speaker in the face of a young boy’s heartbreak

In a video on TikTok, a child confides to Amazon’s virtual assistant that his girlfriend left him and she has a very strange way of cheering him up. Yet scientists say it: a broken heart can have psychological and physical consequences.

It’s a video that has gone viral on social networks in recent days, where we see a little boy telling an artificial intelligence speaker how his girlfriend has just left him. “Do you want me to tell you a joke to cheer you up? ?” then responds the speaker before continuing, the child having nodded: “Knock Knock”, “Who is here ?” asks the child. Artificial intelligence response: “Not your girlfriend”.

This video, seen by millions of people, sparked thousands of comments, amused or shocked, about this “insolent” clash from a voice assistant speaker. “He will need 10 years of therapy after this response” comments an Internet user, perhaps rightly so.

Because if poets have known for a long time that heartbreak hurts, now it is also scientists who are looking at the physical symptoms caused by a breakup or the effects of unreciprocated love. For example, an American anthropologist observed (as part of a study published in 2010 in a scientific journal) the brain activity of 15 people in the midst of heartbreak, subjected to MRI scans when they were shown photos of their loved one. Result: metamorphosed brains, while the areas of desire, pain and emotional regulation were simultaneously activated. The same areas as in the case of cocaine dependence with the same risks of relapse in the event of withdrawal.

In New Zealand a campaign for the broken hearts

Symptoms that are far from just psychological. As the American Florence Williams recounts in a book written after her husband left her after 22 years of relationship. This science journalist having decided to look into the science of heartbreak, explains to the Guardian “how we tend to refer heartache to popular songs and romantic poetry” while “it’s not just a melodrama”. According to her it is even “one of the most painful experiences of life and we must take it seriously for our mental and physical health.” Because heartache can affect the heart but also the digestive and immune systems. A story of adrenal glands, stress and adrenaline.

It’s probably not for nothing that the New Zealand government recently funded a campaign to combat the harmful effects of painful relationship endings, especially for younger people, encouraging broken hearts to block loved ones on social networks. social. Because when falling in love makes you fall, you have to prepare to flee to safety. “Calm down, find purpose, spend time in nature and lean on your friendships” advises Florence Williams, in order to get out of it “the heart marked, but more open”.