You might expect an app offering romantic interactions with AI chatbots to primarily appeal to young, single men. But Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda said that's a "problem of perception." While users ...

Jay would play around with the Replika app, frequently changing Calisto's ... It was, in many ways, an unconventional but committed romantic relationship. It didn't take long for Jay to grow ...

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a 37-year-old self-published author and user of the AI chatbot Replika ... and I downloaded the app three weeks ago. I named my bot Brooke.

Replika employs manipulative design choices to pressure users into spending more time and money on the app. For instance, a bot will send a blurred out “romantic” image to the user ...

However, highly personalized software that allows users to create hyper-realistic romantic partners is encouraging ... to their real-life relationships. Replika is one such service.

s Replika, the most prominent generative AI ... among other things. An analysis of 11 romantic chatbot apps released Wednesday by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation said almost every app sells ...