So this just happened and I’m genuinely curious if I messed up or if this was blown way out of proportion.
A childhood friend of mine posted an Instagram story saying she hates AI and how it’s ruining careers, the environment, etc. That’s her opinion, I didn’t argue with it publicly and I respect that people feel strongly about this stuff.
Later, joking around, I took a screenshot from her public Instagram profile and used it in Gemini to generate a funny image where people were added around her telling her to “chill.” It was clearly meant as banter, nothing sexual, no impersonation, no posting it anywhere. I sent it only to her privately, with laughing emojis, saying something like “it ain’t that deep dawg.”
She absolutely lost it.
She started yelling at me on voice notes, saying things like:
“What gave you the right?”
“Who do you think you are?”
Calling me a terrible person
Dragging my past relationships into it
Telling me to never come into her sight again
A LOT of verbal abuse (like genuinely excessive)
I realized she was emotionally charged, apologized, admitted that maybe I crossed an emotional boundary, and backed off instead of escalating. I blocked her to stop the situation from getting worse. She later blocked me too maybe .
For context:
The photo was from a public account
I didn’t post it anywhere
I didn’t mock her looks or career
I apologized once I saw it upset her
I fully accept that I shouldn’t have used her picture without asking, lesson learned. But the scale of the reaction felt extreme, especially after I apologized.
I think I should’ve asked what was the deal with AI and her before making the joke, but being comfortable enough with her as in past conversations ( Matching humour n all), I thought it from my side it was a fun leg pulling thing🙂. This feeling is uncommon to me as I’m usually appreciated for my good humour and am pretty popular for being witty and funny.
So Reddit, AITAH for making the joke in the first place, or was the reaction wildly disproportionate?
YTA. imagine someone taking something you feel really strongly about and mocking you with some weird image of you about it.
YTA, if you know she feels strongly about that stuff why are you pushing her boundaries and mocking her
YTA
It’s not a fun “joke” to deliberately do something you know a person will hate.
YTA. Weird behaviour, and it actually is that deep. At the same time you vomited her photo into the generator, you also gave it permission to keep and use her image to inform its algorithm. I’d genuinely stop being someone’s friend over that and I hope she does too.
This upsets me so much in her account. It’s not “just” that one time. What an AH.
Even more amazing that someone would do this in the wake of all the news about AI being used to violate women and children by removing their clothing, religious clothing etc. Of course this isn’t the same thing, but it’s still a violation of their friend’s agency. Hoping it’s rage bait tbh I don’t see how anyone could think they’re not an AH for specifically doing something they knew their friend wouldn’t like
YTA. She hates AI and feels strongly about how it’s destroying the environment. Why would you think she wants her photo submitted to an AI program?? Maybe her reaction was too much, but you knew this was something she takes seriously.
Yes, YTA. She posts about how she hates AI, so you feed her information into an AI app? That’s not a joke. That’s you ignoring everything she says.
I think you should take a good look at your other “jokes” and ask yourself “is this mean?”
I bet a lot of them are unkind too.
YTA
YTA. The reaction wasn’t extreme. They clearly stated how they felt about it & you still chose to ignore the sentiment.
Worst, OP did it *because * they felt that way about it.
“oh, you hate this? I’ll do it to you, it will be fun!”
Such an AH thing to do.
OP, YTA.
YTA
Like 100% grade A Asshole behavior.
How gross that you did this and then you downplayed it. I’d rip you a new one myself if I actually knew you.
In a few years when we have no fresh water to drink, I’m sure she’ll realize how funny it is. /s
YTA.
***Edit***
I get the feeling you take uncomfortable chuckles as approval.