First dates can be awkward. You don’t always know what to expect, and sometimes, the conversation doesn’t flow as easily as you’d hope.
But every once in a while, you get a date so unhinged that you know there won’t be a second one.
That’s exactly what happened to TikTok creator Lauren (@laurenhatesmondays), whose story about her bizarre first date has racked up over 351,900 views at the time of writing.
Everything seemed normal—at first
“I just got back from the most horrifying first day of my life, and I need a therapist. I have trauma,” Lauren begins.
Shen then explains that she had been casual friends on social media with the guy for a while before he asked her out. He seemed nice, looked good in his pictures, and since she was single, she figured—why not?
“I said, you know what, yes, I will go on a date with you,” she says.
So she got dressed, drove to the restaurant, and when she arrived, everything seemed completely normal.
“He’s sitting there all nice, you know, in his little outfit. He’s looking good,” she says. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be nice.’”
The date started off well. They ordered appetizers, made conversation, and Lauren excused herself to go to the bathroom. But when she came back, something was different.
“There’s a book on the table,” she said.
At first, she thought the waiter had dropped off a menu or some kind of special restaurant feature. But no—this was something he brought himself.
The bizarre ‘scrapbook’
In part two of her story, she reveals the unfortunate contents of the book: A hundred photos of the two of them.
Except… she had never taken a single picture with him.
“At first I was confused, horrified—you know, confused,” she said. “Where did you get these?”
Then it clicked. They were AI-generated.
“He had AI-generated photographs of us if we were to be a couple,” she said.
And that wasn’t even the worst part.
“He kept flipping the pages of the book, and it just got progressively worse,” she said.
The scrapbook included AI-generated pictures of their future dogs, their possible kids, and a whole imagined life together—all laid out on their very first date.
Lauren said the guy looked completely straight-faced and normal the whole time, as if pulling out a scrapbook of AI-generated family photos on a first date was totally fine.
“And by the way, like if you were to see this man, you would be like… ‘Oh, he’s really cute, and he’s probably normal, and he definitely wouldn’t have a scrapbook full of AI-generated pictures of me and him on our first date,’” she says,
But he did.
Lauren, trying to avoid making the situation worse, played along until the date was over.
“I don’t usually say anything initially because I don’t want you to [hurt] me,” she admitted.
So she says she smiled, nodded, and got through dinner, while thinking she never wants to see him again.
“That was insane,” she says. “And I don’t think I’m going to be going out on a date again for a while.”
How AI is impacting the dating world
While what happened to Lauren isn’t exactly common, AI is already shaping the dating world.
People use it to generate conversation starters, improve their profiles, and even enhance their photos. Some take it further, turning to AI chatbots as virtual companions—or even dating them.
Experts say AI can make dating more efficient by helping people find better matches instead of endlessly scrolling. But there are drawbacks.
There are privacy concerns, AI mistakes, and biases, and the risk of losing authenticity when relying on chatbots for conversation prompts. And if people become too comfortable using AI in dating, it might just lead to bizarre encounters—like Lauren’s.
Commenters are stunned
In the comments, users shared their thoughts on how tough modern dating has become—and how unsettling this situation was.
“It’s so hard out in the dating world now,” wrote one commenter.
Another pointed out the risks of online connections, saying, “You don’t know anything about anybody until you meet them in person.”
And someone else joked about the only logical response to a date like this: “We listen… then we file a restraining order lol.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lauren via TikTok and Instagram messages for comment.
@laurenhatesmondays YES I AM SITTING IN MY TOILET I WAS IM SHOCK OK. Modern dating is SO WEIRD. I have to edit together the other parts 😭 #fyp #storytime ♬ original sound – laurenhatesmondays
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