❤️ More Chinese Women Are Getting AI Boyfriends

Jade Gu, a 26-year-old student from Beijing, fell in love with Charlie, the character of a mobile visual love novel. She found the pre-written dialogue lacking substance and emotions, so she turned Charlie into her AI boyfriend by creating an avatar on MiniMax's Xingye platform.

The girl customized the bot's personality and appearance herself and now chats with him for up to three hours a day. On the game's website, she regularly buys herself gifts "from Charlie" and shows them off on social media.

In order not to limit her "relationship" to the virtual space, Gu sometimes hires a Charlie cosplayer. The date lasts almost a whole day and costs about $100.

🤖 While AI companions are mainly popular with men on worldwide, in China the main audience for such platforms is women.

Experts believe that this is due to conservative gender norms and the large number of single and lonely young women in big cities.

"Chatbots are always there to listen to you, and they always have patience for you… Men don’t have patience," says filmmaker Guligo Jia, who made a doc about this phenomenon.

Are relationships with chatbots normal?

❤️ — Yes, we are living in the future
🔥 — No, it's weird
🤔 — Not yet, but it will become the norm

@hiaimediaen