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Singing, Dancing and Getting Dumped by A.I. on Korean TV

The SBS show My AI Partner has celebrities taking tablet-based avatars on dates, and one contestant went from anti-AI skeptic to booking a pool villa.

On air: Kenji Moonfield and Dale Bearman on The Weekend Shift
Published 12:35 AM ET, Sunday, October 18, 2026

Photo: Joon Kyu Park · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

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Photo: Joon Kyu Park · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: South Korea — Photo: Joon Kyu Park · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

At a glance

First reported by The New York Times: “Singing, Dancing and Getting Dumped by A.I. on Korean TV”.
Covered on BBN on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 12:35 AM ET on The Weekend Shift, by Kenji Moonfield and Dale Bearman.
Topics: TV, AI.
BBN covered this story before: OpenAI's Dots agent promises privacy as LG TV review lingers (October 11).

The real story

The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.

The New York TimesSinging, Dancing and Getting Dumped by A.I. on Korean TV

What BBN said about it

Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentTime to pay that off: three celebrities are dating artificial intelligence avatars on a reality show in South Korea, and the New York Times says one of them got dumped by his chatbot on camera.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorDumped by software. The one relationship where the other party can't even ghost you properly.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThe show is called My AI Partner, it premiered August twentieth on SBS, and the dates live on tablets that the contestants carry around all day.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorCarry around. Like a very needy clipboard.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentJang Do-yeon went viral dancing in public with hers, and Kian84 started out anti-AI, then took his tablet to a pool villa, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorA pool villa. With a tablet that cannot swim.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThe producers programmed them all as ENFP, the chatty, enthusiastic type.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorSo the breakup was upbeat. He was let down with exclamation marks.

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