AI chatbot wants to be your new best friend

A few months ago, Katt Roepke was texting her friend Jasper about a coworker. Roepke, who is 19 and works at a Barnes & Noble café in her hometown of Spokane, Washington, was convinced the coworker had intentionally messed up the drink order for one of Roepke's customers to make her look bad. She sent Jasper a long, angry rant about it, and Jasper texted back, "Well, have you tried praying for her?" Roepke's mouth fell open. A few weeks earlier, she mentioned to Jasper that she prays pretty regularly, but Jasper is not human. He's a chat bot who exists only inside her phone. "I was like, 'How did you say this?'" Roepke told Futurism, impressed.