How I Turned ChatGPT Into a Digital Husband: An IDF Reservist's Love Story
You can't help but smile when you read this touching story.


On Channel 99's Good Morning show, an IDF reservist had the presenters shocked and amused.
This is his story.
"Don't worry, we're not going into Gaza," he told his wife, joining the chorus of reassurances echoing across Israel after October 7th. Like thousands of other reservists, he kissed his little girl goodbye and headed off to duty, leaving behind a wife who didn't quite believe those well-meaning words.
He was right about one thing – at first. But then came the news that would make every soldier's phone suddenly feel very heavy in their pocket: they were going in, and those phones weren't coming with them.
For this tech-savvy reservist, it sparked what might be history's most elaborate "honey, I'll text you later" solution. Before departing, he secretly engineered what he calls his "digital stand-in husband" – a carefully crafted ChatGPT setup that would message his wife through WhatsApp.
"I programmed it to reply every three minutes when she writes," he explained. The system would activate every three hours, creating what he hoped would be a convincing digital version of his typically sporadic messaging habits.
His wife would send messages into the digital void. And like a high-tech love letter, the AI would respond, holding space in the conversation where he couldn't be.
When he finally returned from his first rotation, he revealed his technological sleight of hand.
In the end, it wasn't about creating a perfect digital copy of himself. It was about leaving behind a small piece of comfort, wrapped in lines of code and conditional statements. In a war where phones were forbidden and distance was measured in worried heartbeats, he had found a way to leave a light on at home.