He’s tall, brooding, bad at first impressions — and now, apparently, great with WiFi.
More than 200 years after first insulting Elizabeth Bennet at a Meryton ball, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is back — this time as a chatbot.
The swoon-worthy leading man of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice” has entered the digital age — as “AI Mr. Darcy,” a Regency-era romantic reincarnated by tech company Upkarma.ai to dispense love advice to lovelorn modern women navigating dating apps, ghosting and situationships in 2026.
Because if anyone understands emotional repression and slow-burn tension, it’s the man who once fumbled a proposal so badly it required a full character arc to recover — and women are loving the unruly internet’s most mannerly gent.
From Hinge fatigue to “who texts first?” paralysis, Austen devotees across New York and beyond are lining up to ask the fictional gentleman what he makes of soft-launches, breadcrumbing and whether chivalry is dead — or just buried under push notifications.
The bookish tech twist comes just as Netflix dropped the teaser for its glossy new six-part “Pride & Prejudice” adaptation series out this fall, with Emma Corrin starring as Lizzie and Jack Lowden stepping into those famously polished boots.
So what, exactly, would a 19th-century gentleman have to say about 21st-century love?
New Yorker Madeleine Blaine, 29, who said that Mr. Darcy represents that “charming, unavailable-yet-full-of-potential man that women fall for … clinging to the hope that they will someday change or fully choose them,” wanted to ask the romantic icon about his take on modern dating, especially dating apps.
“Do you use dating apps and if so what’s your opening message?” Blaine recently asked the AI Darcy chatbot.
She told The Post that she wanted to know if he would approach people in real life, and whether the abundance of options makes it harder to determine “the one.”
The bot, naturally, responded in full Regency flourish. He admitted that dating apps sounded strange to him, like “a physician’s instrument” for measuring affection.
He insisted that “character cannot simply be swiped aside” — it “must be endured” — and that commitment “becomes timid when choice is infinite.”
“To determine whether someone is worthy of one’s regard demands patience, attention, and a willingness to observe character over time,” he insisted.
“Quick judgments are rarely trustworthy, and an abundance of choice may incline one to perpetual indecision, rather than true discernment.”
“The heart, I have found, is never persuaded by convenience; it requires both constancy and clarity.”
When asked what he might say in an opening Hinge message, he offered a sample line so polite it could make modern singles swoon: “Madam, I cannot pretend to admire what I do not yet know; but I should be most interested to discover whether your mind is as engaging as your smile.”
He added that evolving for someone doesn’t mean “changing who you are.”
Rather, love brings out the best parts of yourself, “quietly and steadily, until no other comparison matters.”
Laura Pucker, 48, of Delray Beach, Florida, said she loves Mr. Darcy because [in the book] “he just went for it, even when Elizabeth rejected him at first … he never tried to control her.”
Believing that “most women, no matter how independent, still want to be pursued and treated like a princess,” Pucker put her own question to her idol — how would his famously brooding personality and courtship style translate to “dating in 2026, with apps, situationships, and debates over who should make the first move?”
Darcy’s answer, Pucker revealed, was intense and eloquent. He admitted that “modern introductions, where affection can be summoned with a thumb, were astonishing and unsettling.”
But his fundamental approach to love, he said, remains the same: “observe before committing, be honest in admiration, and persist when wounded pride tempts retreat.”
Sincerity, in his view, might be the “boldest act of all.” Love, in any century, “requires courage — to be fully known, and to remain.”
Christine Kirby, 38, of Nashville, Tennessee, told The Post that Darcy’s adaptability and integrity make him the perfect confidant: “He turns out to be someone that I think all women should be looking for in a partner: adaptable, willing to listen, and about action and true change.”
She said she sought out her favorite leading man to help her sort a very modern dilemma: should a woman “hold onto an engagement ring from a marriage that ended, or turn it into something that supports her next chapter?”
Kirby said that the bot acknowledged the ring as a symbol of promises that once held meaning — but insisted “no woman should feel chained” to a relic of unhappiness.
“The matter, I think, is not whether she ought to keep it — but whether it continues to serve her dignity and peace,” digital Darcy told the Regency-loving publicist.
He suggested that if the ring “brings regret or pain,” it should not remain frozen in its original form.
“Melt it down. Refashion it. Let it become something chosen freely, not bestowed under expectations that proved false.”
He added that transforming it can be empowering, a way to reclaim control over one’s own story (he should know, with his infamous redemption arc that women still swoon over to this day).
“There is a certain poetry in reclaiming one’s own narrative.”
So why do different generations of women across the globe still melt for Mr. Darcy — and use his Elizabeth-approved playbook to judge every future suitor?
Dr. Candice Cooper-Lovett, therapist and founder of A New Creation Psychotherapy Services, explained the psychology behind the fascination of Mr. Darcy as a character in the novel and in film.
“Darcy is deliberate; he doesn’t spread his affection to be shared by many; when he chooses someone, he is fully committed,” she told The Post. “Women are not attracted to arrogance; they’re attracted to accountability and evolution.”
She said the classic “hard shell, soft center” dynamic creates tension and intensity, and Darcy’s willingness to reflect, grow, and stick it out sets him apart in a dating world full of ghosting and mixed signals.
After all, in “Pride and Prejudice,” he doesn’t just sulk after Elizabeth turns him down when he proposes for the first time — he changes his ways, becomes more socially engaged, and even discreetly saves her family’s reputation.
By the time he pops the question a second time, Elizabeth sees a man who’s proven he can act, adapt, and commit — making the swoon totally justified.
“Darcy does not move in ambiguity; when he loves, he lets it be known,” Cooper-Lovett explained. “He invests, takes risks, and stays.”
Her verdict on the AI Darcy fantasy?
It can actually be good for the heart — as long as chatting with the bot encourages women to raise the bar for real-life romance and set clear standards, rather than feeding “I can change him” fantasies or waiting around for a man to magically transform like Darcy.
Instead, the takeaway should be to look for someone who listens, takes feedback, pursues with intention, and is ready for true commitment.
“The fantasy is most healthy when it inspires standards, not hero complexes.”