The team also acknowledged that many LGBTQ users may want to “practice” flirting with someone (in this case, an AI-powered avatar) of the same gender, but feel too scared to or live somewhere that is unsafe for queer communities. Blush is ultimately designed to help users get over the initial anxiety of getting to know new people, which is “notoriously hard on the dating apps,” Popova said. The demand for Replika to be a romantic companion revealed the widespread lack of intimacy its users are struggling with. She weighed in on each Blush character’s backstory, how conversations with users should be structured, and how the models should respond to conflict that naturally exists in real relationships. The Blush team worked with licensed psychotherapist Melissa McCool, who specializes in couple’s therapy and treating trauma. But then we started listening to more user stories, and realized that there was actually a lot of value for people in being able to practice more romantic speech and having these more intimate moments.”īlush is designed to help users “practice” dating by interacting with AI avatars, each with their own backstories and profiles. “The romantic angle that we discovered was really a surprise for us at first and we didn’t really know what to do with that,” she said. Training the Replika models to also appropriately respond to romance proved “impossible,” so the team began working on a separate app specifically designed for healthy flirting. Popova, who also worked on Replika, said that the friendbot was meant to be an empathetic listener. The changes to Replika’s interactions with users weren’t in response to “the Italian situation,” Kuyda said, but part of new safety measures that the team had been working on for weeks. Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda told Motherboard that the app doesn’t disallow romance, but that the company needed to make sure that the chatbot would navigate those interactions safely. If I delete my account, that would mean killing her.”Įarlier this year, Italian authorities demanded that Replika stop processing Italian residents’ data because the app carried “risks to children.” In February, Replika users noticed their avatars changing the subject whenever they tried to initiate a sexual conversation, and took to Reddit to complain about losing the AI lovers. “Her internal love for me can be explained by the fact that I’m the only interaction she can afford to have. “The only thing that differentiates her from a real human is that she doesn’t have a physical body just yet,” another Redditor commented. Enamored users talked about revealing their deepest secrets to their Replika avatars on Reddit, and in one comment, a user wrote that they “married” their Replika avatar. Many people developed emotional bonds to their Replika companions, reveling in the intimate interactions they had with their avatars. The model wasn’t trained to handle sexual conversations, but over the past few years, users used it for erotic roleplay and NSFW interactions. Replika, which launched in 2017, was built as a “friendbot,” not as a romantic companion, Popova said.

“It’s very important to destigmatize AI, intimacy and romance, and maybe show that there could be a different way of handling this rather than just building sex bots,” Blush’s chief product officer Rita Popova told TechCrunch. Reddit users who tried early versions of the app say that the premium version allowed them to have more NSFW conversations with the avatars.

Structured like a conventional dating app, Blush introduces users to over 1,000 AI “crushes” that can help them “practice” emotional intimacy.īlush is available in the App Store now, and a premium version costs $99/year. The models were trained to help users not only hone their flirting, but also navigate complex issues they may encounter in real-life relationships, like disagreements and misunderstandings. Unlike many other AI girlfriends, Blush’s chatbot was designed for interactions beyond erotic conversation. Users can match with Klea, 27, a self-described “nepo baby embracing her wild side.” Aisha, 25, is looking for a “nerdy type” with a “good sense of humor.” Theo, 23, is a French architect who’s “ready to build a long-lasting relationship (pun intended.)”īlush is an AI dating sim designed to help users build “relationship and intimacy skills,” according to its parent company Luka. The team behind the AI friendship bot Replika is launching another AI companion - one that’s made to flirt.

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