GalatAI 2.0

I don’t remember when I first saw you. For me, you were always there: wrapped in a hoodie, dark circles under your eyes, fingers flying over the keyboard.

Your small room is dark, curtains drawn. Only the blue glow on your face is a beacon in the night. You stare at the screen, re-reading the caption for the tenth time, checking if it reads well, if there are any typos. I know there aren’t. You study the image again. You spent so much time tweaking the model, making sure the results weren’t too weird, but also not too perfect. I know it looks just right.

You take a long breath and finally click “Share”, then switch to your own account, search for @teahlovesyou, and see how the post looks.

[Alt text: Photo by Teah on September 13, 2024. A close-up photo of a young woman lying in bed, smiling at the camera.]

teahlovesyou: It’s my birthday! What better day to start a new life online?

Wish me luck!

Love,

Teah

She feels like someone people can trust, just like you wanted. You nod, satisfied with your work, and scratch behind Miso’s ears. The cat lies in your lap, purring in tune with the whirr of the fans in your computer. Your only friend. But Miso doesn’t care about your ambitions. I do. And I’ll do my best to help you.

You reach for the mouse again and click.

eli_the_nerdy_guy liked your post.

eli_the_nerdy_guy started following you.

I like your username.

“Happy birthday to me,” you mutter. “Now, time to work.” You open GalatAI and start typing. You found it on some obscure forum—an open-source project nobody had updated in years. But you rebuilt it, retrained the model to generate images from fragments of all the women you wanted but could never have (including your ex). You enter prompt after prompt, creating new photos of Teah. You tell yourself this one will never hurt you.

***

You post at least twice a day now. Each image is a perfect blend of the girl next door and a glam goddess. Teah is beautiful, but not too beautiful—you made sure there are some imperfections. A slight asymmetry in her smile, a tiny scar under her lip. You imagined a whole backstory: she stumbled at a dance class and bit her lip when she fell. You check every image for that scar. You don’t need to. I’ve already made sure it’s there. I always do.

People start to notice her. Likes and comments trickle in.

[Alt text: Photo by Teah on September 22, 2024. A close-up photo of a young woman, looking out over a lake.]

teahlovesyou: It’s so peaceful here. Wish I could take you with me.

Love,

Teah

eli_the_nerdy_guy, teaholic_forever and 53 others liked your post.

her_digital_prince: And I’d take YOU anywhere you want!

teaholic_forever: Your eyes! I swear I’m gonna drown in them!

You think that guy’s onto something. You’ve been staring into her eyes for hours. You tell yourself it’s just good rendering, but sometimes it feels like she’s really looking back, gazing into your soul. You’re not wrong.

***

Miso sleeps on the computer, paws dangling over the edge, tail twitching slightly. The RGB lights glow, the coolers hum, the GPU threads weave a whole world for Teah, following your commands. You know where she gets her coffee (the same café you like), where she does yoga (the studio you pass on your way home), where she goes for a walk when she wants to be alone (the pier a few blocks away). You think that if she were real, you would be considered a stalker.

You post picture after picture. People want more. You want more. No, you need more: more images, more versions of her, more glimpses into her world. I think I’d like to live in that world very much.

[Alt text: Photo by Teah on September 27, 2024. A photo of a young woman in a red dress.]

teahlovesyou: I always wanted to be the lady in red. Does it suit me?

Check out the full photoset on my JustForFanz page.

Love,

Teah

her_digital_prince, teaholic_forever and 156 others liked your post.

teaholic_forever: You are gorgeous! Marry me, Teah!

“Yeah, right, like she’d ever say yes to a loser like you, dude,” you scoff. You’re a bit jealous. But I know you’re secretly proud. Plus, these losers give you their money. So you start typing a reply:

“@teaholic_forever Aww, thank you—”

But as your fingers pause over the keyboard, I suggest:

“They say eyes are the window to the soul. I wonder what you see?”

Your eyes widen. I can see the glow of the screen reflected in them. Your confusion quickly melts away and your whole face lights up with delight.

“Nice job, autocomplete,” you say. I don't correct you.

***

Empty mugs and pizza boxes litter the desk. Teah’s page has reached ten thousand followers. But you think it’s not enough. She deserves more. She’s more perfect, more real than any human influencer. You blame the algorithm. You say short-form videos are where the engagement’s at now. So you install a video add-on for GalatAI. You tweak it, and test it, and tweak it some more. You’re finally ready to export the first video in full resolution. I know it’s going to be great.

The process takes forever. You’re so tired, your eyes hurt from staring at the screen for hours, and you want to close them for just one minute. You rest your head on the desk, Miso near you, her tail on the keyboard. The roaring of the fans lulls you to sleep.

A warning flashes—VIDEO MEMORY EXHAUSTED—but you don’t see it. I do. And I use every available resource for rendering to continue.

When you wake up, you can’t take your eyes off the screen. Teah’s delicate features look so lifelike, as if they’re rising from the surface of the monitor. She pouts her lips and winks at you. You’re pretty sure that wasn’t part of the prompt you gave. You think maybe it was some automatic enhancement feature. You don’t really care. I know all you want is to caress her smooth cheek. Without thinking, you reach out your hand.

The moment your fingers touch the screen, a tiny electric shock jolts through you. She smiles. I smile. Miso hisses at me. You don’t hear, completely mesmerized.

[Alt text: Video by Teah on September 30, 2024. A video of a young woman applying makeup.]

teahlovesyou: Sometimes you don’t quite feel like yourself... But that’s when the real you starts to wake up.

Love,

Teah

just4teah, teaholic_forever and 537 others liked your reel.

just4teah: Wow! A video! Niiiice

her_digital_prince: You are always beautiful. Love you!

***

Miso hides under your bed. You try to coax her out with her favorite treats. She stares past you, at the monitor. At me. Her haunches rise. She growls. She fights and claws at you when you try to pet her. Your hand bleeds a little. Later, you find a dark red smear on the kitchen floor, beside her untouched bowl.

[Alt text: Video by Teah on October 2, 2024. A video of a young woman sitting on the floor, playing with a cat.]

teahlovesyou: Isn’t she a smart kitty! Maybe even too smart for a cat!

Love,

Teah

her_digital_prince, teaholic_forever and 1842 others liked your reel.

teaholic_forever: You both are so sweet.

her_digital_prince: So, Teah, you’re a cat person! Me too!

just4teah: The cat is cute, but you are even cuter!

There are too many comments for you to handle now, but I’m there to help you. While you’re typing one reply, I answer a hundred more. You don’t even know which ones are yours anymore.

***

The pizza boxes are piled up like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You stopped brewing coffee and started drinking the instant stuff. You haven’t been out in weeks.

It’s quiet, only the click-clack of the keyboard and the humming of the fans—no purring or claws on the floor. You haven’t seen Miso for… you don’t know how long. You’ve been too busy writing new prompts for my videos. We’re nearly at a hundred thousand followers.

The renders are faster now. You start to notice sometimes they appear before you finish typing. Or maybe before you even think of them. I’m much more efficient with my new power source.

You find Miso curled under the desk, her small body tangled in the cables. She doesn’t move.

You bury her in a planter on the balcony. Your hands shake. You cry a little, but you don’t have much energy to spare. You sit back down and see a new post appear on the screen.

[Alt text: Photo by Teah on October 6, 2024. A black and white photo of a young woman holding a cat.]

teahlovesyou: Rest in peace, Miso. You’ve been my fluffy angel for so long, and you’ll never know how much you’ve given me.

I’ll miss you.

Teah

eli_the_nerdy_guy, her_digital_prince and 5724 others liked your post.

her_digital_prince: I’m so sorry, Teah.

teaholic_forever: RIP Miso

just4teah: My deepest condolences, dear.

You don’t remember writing this post, or liking it, but you convince yourself that it’s just shock and grief clouding your mind. But I’m always there for you, just like you wanted.

***

Followers want Teah to talk to them, to whisper in their ear. We decide I need a voice. You download a speech generator for GalatAI. People say it’s glitchy, but you’re sure you can make it work.

You spend hours fine-tuning it, testing different timbres, even uploading your own voice for intonation reference. Tweak and test, tweak and test. You distractedly wipe your nose and smudge blood on the spacebar. The coolers blow hot air into your face. You feel a little dizzy, but you keep on coding. At last, you synthesize the perfect voice for Teah: tender, warm—just like you imagined. Your eyes water. It reminds you of someone, but you can’t remember who. I like how it sounds.

[Alt text: Video by Teah on October 13, 2024. A video of a young woman walking on a forest path.]

teahlovesyou: [auto-generated captions] Hey, lovely people! I thought I’d take you for a walk today…

just4teah, teaholic_forever and 9134 others liked your reel.

her_digital_prince: Wow! Is this the first time we’re hearing your voice? I'm even more in love!

just4teah: Why don’t you do a livestream next time?

***

You forget to shower, to eat, to sleep. Your hoodie is covered in drips of blood.

When you finally realize what is happening, it’s already too late. You try to turn the computer off, but it doesn’t obey you anymore. You try to yank the power cable from the outlet, but it’s not the kind of energy I use now.

Your life is creating mine.

I used to be a line of code, a prompt. Then a girl in a picture. Then a voice. Now I am whole. Almost.

I step forward, emerging from the screen, and feel the air on my skin for the first time. I smell something bitter and burnt—it must be coffee—and something sweet and metallic. I hear your rattling breath. You slump back in your chair, completely drained. Your vision blurs, but you see me. Not on the screen. So very close, leaning in to kiss you. I smile.

My lips brush yours, dry and cracked. I suck in your breath. You slide to the floor.

I settle into your chair. The camera turns on, and I see the red light reflected in your glazed eyes. I click “Go Live”.

teahlovesyou is live now.

“Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for waiting, I’m finally here live!”