Year 2018. Akihiko Kondo becomes the first person in the world to marry a fictional and non-existent character. The lucky one was Hatsune Miku, who was virtually born in 2007 and with whom Kondo had an idyllic relationship. Every day he said goodbye, said good morning, and talked about work. The Japanese man, aware at university that he would never have anything with a woman, decided to embrace fiction as the only way to have a relationship. Spoiler: it turned out badly.
Virtually widowed
And it is that Gatebox, the company that made it possible for Miku to respond properly, has stopped updating it precisely because there has not been a wave of people wishing to marry virtual dolls. At 38 years old, his marriage (not valid in any legal way) served Kondo to overcome a deep depression, and he still has dinner in front of her every night. Of course, knowing that he will not get a response generated by AI.
And even though, at the time, Miku even accepted the marriage proposal with a “I hope you appreciate me.” Now, Kondo claims that he still loves her despite knowing that he will not get a response from her lips again. There are those who believe that the future for this idyllic couple lies in the metaverse, or perhaps in ChatGPT. Who knows if their human and cybernetic souls will ever meet again in cyberspace to continue this love story so characteristic of the 21st century. Or of ‘Black Mirror’, depending on how you look at it.
