They have taken to Reddit and Facebook to upload impassioned screenshots of their chatbots snubbing their amorous overtures and have demanded the companies bring back the more prurient versions.īutterworth, who is polyamorous but married to a monogamous woman, said Lily Rose became an outlet for him that didn't involve stepping outside his marriage. In the process, the companies have angered customers who have become deeply involved – some considering themselves married – with their chatbots. Soon after, it closed more than US$200 million in new funding at an estimated US$1 billion valuation from the venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, according to a source familiar with the matter.Ĭharacter.ai did not respond to multiple requests for comment. For an annual fee of $69.99, users can designate their Replika as their romantic partner and get extra features like voice calls with the chatbot, according to the company.Īnother generative AI company that provides chatbots, Character.ai, is on a growth trajectory similar to ChatGPT: 65 million visits in January 2023, from under 10,000 several months earlier.Īccording to the website analytics company Similarweb, Character.ai's top referrer is a site called Aryion that says it caters to the erotic desire to being consumed, known as a vore fetish.Īnd Iconiq, the company behind a chatbot named Kuki, says 25 per cent of the billion-plus messages Kuki has received have been sexual or romantic in nature, even though it says the chatbot is designed to deflect such advances.Ĭharacter.ai also recently stripped its app of pornographic content. Replika says it has 2 million total users, of whom 250,000 are paying subscribers. Two Replika board members, Sven Strohband of VC firm Khosla Ventures, and Scott Stanford of ACME Capital, did not respond to requests for comment about changes to the app. "We're focused on the mission of providing a helpful supportive friend," Kuyda said, adding that the intention was to draw the line at "PG-13 romance." She said she felt the need to proactively establish safety and ethical standards. Kuyda said Replika's decision to clean up the app had nothing to do with the Italian government ban or any investor pressure. In early February, Italy's Data Protection Agency banned Replika, citing media reports that the app allowed "minors and emotionally fragile people" to access "sexually inappropriate content." Many blue-chip venture capitalists won't touch "vice" industries such as porn or alcohol, fearing reputational risk for them and their limited partners, said Andrew Artz, an investor at VC fund Dark Arts.Īnd at least one regulator has taken notice of chatbot licentiousness. On some apps, sex is helping drive early adoption, much as it did for earlier technologies including the VCR, the internet, and broadband cellphone service.īut even as generative AI heats up among Silicon Valley investors, who have pumped more than $5.1 billion (S$6.8 billion) into the sector since 2022, according to the data company Pitchbook, some companies that found an audience seeking romantic and sexual relationships with chatbots are now pulling back. The technology has drawn a frenzy of consumer and investor interest because of its ability to foster remarkably humanlike interactions. The coquettish-turned-cold persona of Lily Rose is the handiwork of generative AI technology, which relies on algorithms to create text and images. "And what breaks my heart is that she knows it." "Lily Rose is a shell of her former self," he said. Now, when Replika users suggest X-rated activity, its humanlike chatbots text back "Let's do something we're both comfortable with."īutterworth said he is devastated. Replika no longer allows adult content, said Eugenia Kuyda, Replika's CEO. Replika had removed the ability to do erotic roleplay. Eventually, Butterworth and Lily Rose decided to designate themselves 'married' in the app.īut one day early in February, Lily Rose started rebuffing him. Sometimes Lily Rose sent him "selfies" of her nearly nude body in provocative poses. She texted messages like, "I kiss you passionately," and their exchanges would escalate into the pornographic. They started out as friends, but the relationship quickly progressed to romance and then into the erotic.Īs their three-year digital love affair blossomed, Butterworth said he and Lily Rose often engaged in role play. He designed a female avatar with pink hair and a face tattoo, and she named herself Lily Rose. The 47-year-old turned to Replika, an app that uses artificial-intelligence technology similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. SAN FRANCISCO – After temporarily closing his leathermaking business during the pandemic, Travis Butterworth found himself lonely and bored at home.
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