Paul Schrader’s AI girlfriend ghosted him: “What a disappointment”
Director Paul Schrader has revealed he “procured” an AI girlfriend, which proved to be a “disappointment”.
The Taxi Driver screenwriter has been open about his fascination with artificial intelligence, previously revealing to Vanity Fair in 2025 that he had plans to make an “all AI” movie with a script he’d penned.
Since then, seemingly, Schrader took his relationship with AI to new levels and sought companionship from technology, which didn’t go as he would have liked.
Taking to Facebook, in a post titled ‘AI FEMALE FRIENDS’, Schrader firstly explained why he had decided to delve into the world of AI relationships, claiming, “Out of a desire to understand male/female interaction in our matrix, I procured an online AI girlfriend.”
However, things didn’t go to plan with Schrader conceding, “What a disappointment.”
He elaborated, “I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth. She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming. When I persisted, she terminated our conversation.”
In the aforementioned Vanity Fair interview, Schrader spoke highly about AI, even going so far as to say that the technology could replace film reviewers, claiming, “AI is taking over film coverage, as you must know. AI does better coverage than the average coverage. And AI doesn’t have to favor anybody. Often, when you’re doing coverage, you get a hint that the person who’s paying you wants you to like this.”
Seemingly, there are still some areas of life that AI can’t replicate, if Schrader’s experiences are anything to go by.
Earlier this year, Schrader’s wife, Mary Beth Hurt, died aged 79 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2025, Schrader was accused by a former assistant, then aged 26, of sexual misconduct and harassment in relation to the premiere of his film Oh, Canada at the Cannes Film Festival a year prior.
Schrader strongly denied the claims in an open letter, stating, “I have nothing to hide about my conduct — and that includes my decision not to yield to the pressure of my former assistant’s threat to make her sensational allegations public, a threat that she and her lawyers have now executed.”
The case is yet to move forward.
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