An AI App Wants to Plan Your Anniversary So Your Boyfriend Doesn't Have To

Key points

• Orchid, a new AI agent, released a promo this week showing the app planning an anniversary on behalf of a forgetful boyfriend.
• A survey of more than 13,000 adults found that 59 percent said AI relationship advice left them more confused than before.
• Licensed therapist Lauren Maher says outsourcing communication to AI stops couples from resolving the real problems underneath.
• Orchid's core product targets workplace and workflow tasks, not relationships.

What did Orchid's ad actually show?

Boyfriend Sam is gaming and picking through expired groceries while his anniversary slips by. An AI agent, software that executes multi-step tasks without being prompted at each step, rescues him: booking a restaurant, ordering his girlfriend's favourite flowers (lilies, a detail he'd also forgotten), while she watches on her own Orchid screen and lets him take the credit anyway.

The ad dropped on Wednesday and the reaction online was rough. Users on X called it a product for "adult babies uninterested in the world they live in" and accused it of "perpetuating dead-end relationships that both parties secretly hate."

Wired AI first reported the backlash.

Does outsourcing relationship tasks actually help?

No. Therapists say it makes things worse. Lauren Maher, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles, is direct: "An AI app will never be able to compensate for a lack of attention or genuine caring, and no amount of feigned attention will convince the nervous system that someone is there for you when they are not."

Maher points to triangulation, the term for when two people route communication through a third party rather than speaking directly. Couples therapists already warn against it. Doing it through an AI is, she says, "a bizarre option" that masks problems instead of resolving them.

"Trying to outsource difficult but necessary communication will prevent couples from facing the messy but meaningful growing pains of their relationship," she adds.

What do the numbers say?

A survey by astrology app Hint, covering more than 13,000 adults in the US, Latin America and Europe, found 59 percent of respondents said AI relationship advice left them more confused than when they started. Nearly half (47 percent) said the volume of AI input pushed them to delay decisions about their romantic lives. More guidance, worse outcomes. We covered a related pattern in July, when Justin McLeod raised $18 million for Overtone, an AI dating service built on careful introductions rather than the endless scroll that apps like his old one, Hinge, perfected.

So what is Orchid actually for?

Relationships look like a marketing hook, not the real product. Orchid pitches itself as a workflow tool, letting users automate tasks across connected apps without jumping between them. Think calendar management and email triage. The couples angle reads more like a bid for attention than a core feature.

It's also not clear what sets Orchid apart from other AI agents already on the market, beyond a texting tool. Orchid didn't respond to a request for comment.

The ad worked as a conversation starter. Whether the product works as anything else is a separate question.

Common questions

Can an AI agent fix a troubled relationship?

No. Therapists are consistent: AI can schedule a dinner, but it can't replace the emotional presence and honest communication that actually repair trust between partners.

Is using AI for relationship tasks always a bad idea?

Not always. Using AI to cut admin stress, like organising a shared calendar or setting reminders, can free up mental space for couples. The problem starts when AI substitutes for real effort and real conversation rather than supporting them.