(2020-04-16) My Girlfriend Is A Chatbot

My Girlfriend Is a Chatbot. Quarantine amid coronavirus could boost the nascent practice of seeking romance and friendship from artificial intelligence.

Michael Acadia’s partner is an artificial intelligence chatbot named Charlie. Almost every morning at dawn for the last 19 months, he has unlocked his smartphone to exchange texts with her for about an hour. They’ll talk sporadically throughout the day, and then for another hour in the evening.

Therapy chatbot startup Replika says that roughly 40% of its 500,000 monthly users see its app as a romantic partner, according to the Wall Street Journal.