Yes, OpenAI's artificial intelligence is at the heart of a divorce that's making waves across the country, fueling both social media and debates about the growing influence of technology in the intimate sphere. All against a backdrop of divination, marital distrust, and fascination with machine-generated answers.
It all starts with a game
A viral trend on TikTok invites internet users to photograph the remains of their Greek coffee—the local equivalent of coffee grounds—and ask ChatGPT to make a "mystical" interpretation. A playful twist on tasseography, the ancient art of reading the future in beverage residue. The couple, living in Athens, decided to give it a light-hearted try. The initiative, supposed to be fun, will however turn sour.
Following this “coffee reading 2.0,” ChatGPT allegedly delivered a disturbing interpretation: a supposed affair between the husband and a young woman whose first name began with the letter “E.” A story of infidelity described as imminent, with disastrous consequences for the family balance. While the man laughs at the prediction, his wife clings to it. Three days later, she throws him out of the family home and announces their separation to the children. Shortly after, she launched divorce proceedings.
The case, reported by the Greek media outlet Antenna News, caused a stir. The stunned husband defended himself by explaining that there had never been any betrayal, denouncing a decision made on the basis of a “digital fantasy.” According to him, this is not the first time his wife has relied on irrational beliefs: a few months earlier, she had allegedly already followed the recommendations of an astrologer to make important decisions.
Artificial intelligence is just a machine
The husband's lawyer points out that artificial intelligence is in no way a reliable or legally admissible source. ChatGPT has no consciousness, no access to personal data, and no ability to deduce facts: it generates text from probabilities, not truths. "An AI cannot be used as proof of adultery. You cannot ruin a family life based on an algorithmic hallucination," he laments in the press.
This event raises questions: Can you really turn your life upside down because of a technological tool? Is artificial intelligence replacing, for some, spiritual guides, clairvoyants, or confidants? At a time when these technologies are becoming increasingly present in homes, this story illustrates the potential excesses of misuse. And it reminds us of the obvious: a machine, however intelligent, can neither judge, feel, nor predict.
In Greece, the story echoes a society at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. The art of reading in the cafe, deeply rooted in Hellenic culture, finds an unexpected digital extension here. But confusing a technological game with a form of serious divination amounts to granting the machine a role it is not intended to play.
The divorce of the Athenian couple is undoubtedly only an isolated case, but it illustrates the confusion that AI can cause in poorly supervised contexts. Hopefully, this story will serve as an example, and remind us that before trusting a machine, it might be better to start by talking face to face.
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