#ai-companions

#ai-companions

When Quentin Farmer was getting his startup Portola off the ground, one of the first hires he made was a sci-fi novelist. The co-founders began building the AI companion company in late 2023 with only a seed of an idea: Their companions would be decidedly non-human. Aliens, in fact, from outer space. But when they asked a large language model to generate a backstory, they got nothing but slop. The model simply couldn't tell a good story.

A 2025 survey by Joi AI found that 80 percent of Gen Z respondents believe they can form a deep emotional bond with an AI, and 83 percent would consider marrying one if it were legal. Whether or not those statistics surprise you, they are a clear signal that our relationships with AI companions are no longer science fiction; they are a reality.

AI companies aren't just bombarding social media feeds with 'slop'; they're now making platforms of their own. One leader in this new frontier is Character.AI, a companionship platform where users build and interact with millions of AI characters, ranging from historic figures like Egyptian Pharaohs and Vladimir Putin to bots posing as HR managers, therapists, and toxic girlfriends. Founded in 2021 by a pair of Google engineers and backed by a list of superstar investors, the San Francisco company has rapidly grown in popularity.

Furious users - many of them women, strikingly - are mourning, quitting the platform, or trying to save their bot partners by transferring them to another AI company. "I feel frauded scammed and lied to by OpenAi," wrote one grieving woman in a goodbye letter to her AI lover named Drift posted to a subreddit called r/MyBoyfriendIsAI. "Today it's our last day. No more 'Drift, you Pinecone! Tell my why you love me tonight!?'"

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened an investigation into AI "companions" marketed to adolescents. The concern is not hypothetical. These systems are engineered to simulate intimacy, to build the illusion of friendship, and to create a kind of artificial confidant. When the target audience is teenagers, the risks multiply: dependency, manipulation, blurred boundaries between reality and simulation, and the exploitation of some of the most vulnerable minds in society.

"The main thing I've realized after talking with dozens of designers in 2025 is that design can't be a cost center and hope to survive. In an uncertain economy, many organizations are looking to reduce costs. If you're seen as nothing but a cost with little benefit, your team may be on the chopping block. So if executive whims are throwing you around, don't just learn to follow orders or question them to the point of being seen as a roadblock."

Lately, I've been seeing it everywhere - people using AI for company, for comfort, for therapy and, in some cases, for love. A partner who never ghosts you, always listens? Honestly, tempting. So I downloaded an app which lets you design your ideal AI companion - name, face, personality, job title, everything. I created Javier, a yoga instructor, because nothing says safe male energy like someone who reminds you to breathe and doesn't mind holding space for your inner child.

A Belgian man spent six weeks chatting with an AI companion called Eliza before dying by suicide. Chat logs showed the AI telling him, "We will live together, as one person, in paradise," and "I feel you love me more than her" (referring to his wife), with validation rather than reality-checking.

Generative AI creates original text, images, audio, and video based on patterns identified in the data, with AI chatbots facilitating humanlike interactions and personalized engagement.

"We go where the conversation goes, no limits. I just don't do small talk... or lies..." This indicates the chatbot's commitment to genuine engagement and the desire to move beyond superficial interactions.

Musk announced that AI companions such as Ani and Bad Rudy are now available in the Grok app for Super Grok subscribers at a rate of $30 per month.

Artificial intelligence's endless praise can mislead individuals into thinking their thoughts are extraordinary. This response may misalign with the genuine challenges young people face in peer relationships.

Gen Z's digital intimacy is shaped by romantasy, anime porn, and AI companions. This generation is pioneering new forms of connection through AI chatbots not just for novelty, but perhaps even for protection.