Tech exec predicts ‘AI girlfriends’ will create $1B business

It’s only a matter of time before someone builds the next billion-dollar dating app that will pair real-life users with artificial intelligence-created girlfriends, according to a tech executive.

Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout, wrote a blog post on X in which he shared that he met a man in Miami who “admitted to me that he spends $10,000/month” on “AI girlfriends.”

“I thought he was kidding,” Isenberg wrote. “But, he’s a 24 year old single guy who loves it.”

When Isenberg asked him what he loved about it, the Miami man is quoted as saying: “Some people play video games, I play with AI girlfriends.”

Isenberg said that he was told by the man: “I love that I could use voice notes now with my AI girlfriends.”

“I get to customize my AI girlfriend,” the man told Isenberg. “Likes, dislikes etc. It’s comfort at the end of the day.”

The Miami man stated his preference for two websites — Candy.ai and Kupid.ai.

Candy.ai bills itself as “the ultimate AI girlfriend experience” which offers “virtual companions for immersive and personalized chats.”

Kupid AI says that it uses AI algorithms to generate virtual and fictional characters — or “companions” — with whom one can communicate through voice notes.

“It’s kinda like dating apps. You’re not on only one,” the Miami man said.

Isenberg said he was left “speechless” by the encounter and predicted that “someone will build the AI-version of Match Group and make $1B+.”

Match Group is the parent company of dating apps such as Tinder, Match.com, Hinge, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish.

Websites like Romance.AI offer up virtual dating partners using technology that can mimic real-life human interactions.

An app such as Romantic AI “helps you create the perfect girlfriend with whom you share interests and views. You can talk about everything, get support and feel needed.”

Another app, Forever Companion, offers users the opportunity to chat with bots based on popular social media influencers.

Replika, the AI chatbot software, offers users the chance to create their own boyfriend or husband for just a few hundred dollars.

Platforms such as Nomi.ai and Soulmate even encourage erotic role play.

Users can personalize AI chatbot’s avatar and give it personality traits depending on whether they want a friend, mentor or romantic partner.

The nature of the messages could resemble “sexting” so any erotic conversation would have to include explicit instructions on what the user would like to happen.

Unlike Replika, which has filters to stop people from using overtly sexual language, Nomi.ai allows users to tailor the AI bot to their preferences by deciding which clothing the avatar wears and how open they are to sexual activity.

Users also have the option of making their chatbots submissive or dominant.

A group of Gen Z TikTok users reported that they were “falling for” DAN, ChatGPT’s alter ego with a flirty macho male voice that some have compared to Christian Grey from “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

A recent survey from Infobip found that nearly 20% of Americans have flirted with chat bots. Nearly half of them — 47.2% — did so out of curiosity while 23.9% said they were lonely and seeking interactions.

Nearly 17% said they were “AI-phished” — meaning they did not realize they were talking to a chat bot.

The survey also found that 12.2% were seeking sexual chat within a private space.