A programmer. Photo: IC

 A busy computer programmer said he set up a chatbot on Wechat that automatically responds his girlfriend's messages 24 hours a day.

Li Kaixiang, a software development engineer for JD.com said he is often too busy at work to reply to his girlfriend's Wechat messages so he wrote a program that automatically sends messages to his girlfriend, according to a post by dsb.cn on Sina Weibo.

"Baby, this is the 618th day we've been together. Wish your mood is brighter than the sun," was one of the messages his chatbot sent to his girlfriend, which also included information about the day's temperature, wind direction and air quality. 

Li said his chatbot and girlfriend exchanged about 300 messages in that day.  

The Weibo post didn't mention if Li's girlfriend was aware the messages were auto-replies, nor did it mention who wrote the messages, or how the chatbot might reply to a simple question from the girlfriend. 

Some internet users thought the chatbot messages were hilarious because they used many social media buzzwords. 

"It is such a good idea. I wouldn't have to worry about irritating my girlfriend by not responding to her messages," a netizen wrote.

Some netizens thought his girlfriend could easily detect the replies weren't from the "real" Li. 

Many still had fun with the idea, and a warning. "Be careful, your girlfriend might fall in love with the chatbot one day," a netizen warned.

Global Times