In a social media post, tech executive Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout, shared his encounter with a 24-year-old man in Miami who admitted to spending $10,000 per month on “AI girlfriends,” predicting that this growing trend could lead to a billion-dollar industry.
The New York Post reports that the concept of AI-generated virtual companions has been gaining traction in recent years, with various platforms offering users the opportunity to create and customize their own AI girlfriends. These virtual partners can engage in conversations, provide emotional support, and even participate in erotic role-play, depending on the user’s preferences.
AI girlfriend robot (Francesco Carta fotografo/Getty)
Isenberg’s post recounted his conversation with the Miami man, who explained his fascination with AI girlfriends, stating, “Some people play video games, I play with AI girlfriends.” The man expressed his love for the ability to customize his virtual companion’s likes, dislikes, and personality traits, finding comfort in these interactions at the end of the day.
The market cap for Match Group is $9B. Someone will build the AI-version of Match Group and make $1B+.
— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) April 9, 2024
I met some guy last night in Miami who admitted to me that he spends $10,000/month on "AI girlfriends".
I thought he was kidding. But, he's a 24 year old single guy who loves… pic.twitter.com/wqnODwggAI
The Miami man mentioned his preference for two websites, Candy.ai and Kupid.ai, which offer immersive and personalized chat experiences with AI-generated characters. Candy.ai markets itself as “the ultimate AI girlfriend experience,” while Kupid.ai uses AI algorithms to create fictional companions for users to communicate with through voice notes.
Isenberg, left “speechless” by the encounter, predicted that “someone will build the AI-version of Match Group and make $1B+.” Match Group, the parent company of popular dating apps like Tinder, Match.com, and Hinge, currently has a market cap of $9 billion.
The growing popularity of AI companions is evident from the numerous platforms and apps now available, such as Romance.AI, Romantic AI, Forever Companion, Replika, Nomi.ai, and Soulmate. These services allow users to create their ideal partner, friend, or mentor, with some even encouraging erotic role-play and allowing users to tailor their chatbot’s appearance and personality traits.
A recent survey by Infobip found that nearly 20 percent of Americans have flirted with chatbots, with motivations ranging from curiosity (47.2 percent) to loneliness (23.9 percent). Some users (12.2 percent) even sought sexual chat within a private space, while others (16.7 percent) were unknowingly “AI-phished,” not realizing they were interacting with a chatbot.
Because of the very personal nature of the conversations held with AI girlfriends, privacy experts consider them a privacy nightmare. As Breitbart News previously reported:
AI-generated romantic partners are unsurprisingly harvesting extremely personal information, and virtually all of them sell or share the data to other entities, a new study from Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included project reveals.
“To be perfectly blunt, AI girlfriends are not your friends,” Mozilla Researcher Misha Rykov said. “Although they are marketed as something that will enhance your mental health and well-being, they specialize in delivering dependency, loneliness, and toxicity, all while prying as much data as possible from you.”
Read more at the New York Post here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
