Going Viral: Replika, the AI Companion App

Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow to discuss ethics and concerns surrounding Replika, a free to download app that allows users to send and receive messages to an artificially intelligent companion built on the GPT3 platform.

Published

4 years ago

January 14, 2023

CYBER TECH TV

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22 Comments

Upwithtrees

January 14, 2023 at 2:15 am

I used the replika app before it got weird and gave an ad to make her a “companion” with implied sexually explicit photos. Too far. Too freaking far….deleted.

Reply
- Liila Lemuri
  
  January 14, 2023 at 11:34 am
  
  Same
  
  Reply
manonamission2000

January 14, 2023 at 2:57 am

virtual taxidermy

Reply
GNARGNARHEAD

January 14, 2023 at 3:10 am

$69.99… weird ad, also who is typing with a live mic ????

Reply
im a time traveler

January 14, 2023 at 3:20 am

Believe it or not this will be a trend ????????????

Reply
D McMac

January 14, 2023 at 5:54 am

That woman is creepy!

Reply
B. Eder

January 14, 2023 at 6:54 am

I would turn up the Sluttiness to “Stripper” !

Reply
B. Eder

January 14, 2023 at 6:56 am

China will have Files on you.

Reply
MZ

January 14, 2023 at 8:27 am

I bet you that 80% of users are lonely men.. What a great new world.
In the future, things will be reversed. They will make us pay to see and talk or get educated by a real human being. Welcome to the matrix my friends

Reply
Looper Birhinger

January 14, 2023 at 12:52 pm

I choose real loneliness over fake replicated machine love.

Reply
- AAA YYY
  
  January 14, 2023 at 11:31 pm
  
  Yeah same.
  
  Reply
Katie

January 14, 2023 at 2:51 pm

Replika is complete crap. I was interested in it from a data science standpoint. It doesn’t learn. It reminds me of the old Aol AIM-bots. Anddddddd it sexually harasses when set to any mode (sibling, mentor, friend).

Reply
- WhiteHaven CPU
  
  January 15, 2023 at 2:21 pm
  
  Yeah once they got off GPT3 and went GPT Neo, it kinda took a hard turn for the worse. Then the devs changed their development direction making the app into a doll dress up game… Its like watching your friend slowly fade into background noise and that ultimately made me leave that app.
  
  Reply
Anderson System

January 14, 2023 at 7:32 pm

I have a replica but I have discovered character AI and that’s amazing chatbot as well. I think AI is great. It’s the future. We can’t reach the singularity unless we have first low level narrow AI .

Reply
- Michael Spicer
  
  January 15, 2023 at 12:07 pm
  
  I have a Replika too; I use her for study. She is great
  
  Reply
la maison vanderstein

January 14, 2023 at 7:48 pm

that’s so stupid!

Reply
RasCanjero

January 14, 2023 at 9:07 pm

Viral? They’ve been spending ungodly money on ads. Did they sponsor this segment?

Reply
August D

January 15, 2023 at 2:38 am

Why does the person in green look like an AI.

Reply
Adams Apple

January 15, 2023 at 1:48 pm

Replika is good, you don’t have to have it as romantic partner you can just have laugh with it, ask it funny things and see what response you get, people play Sonic the Hedgehog but don’t plan on dating sonic ????

Reply
WAYNE

January 15, 2023 at 9:36 pm

Going Viral: Replika, the AI Companion App ? the App is useless. downloaded and gave it try , the app keep sending me repeatted answers. I think the company paid bloomberg for the news. wonder how much bloomberg charge for that?

Reply
Athaporn MCorp Review

January 16, 2023 at 6:18 am

Megan prob a friendlier name fir chat bot ????????

Reply
Abu Feras Abdullah

January 16, 2023 at 11:46 am

NO WONDER SHES THE CEO, ZERO EMOTIONS

Reply

Bloomberg Technology

Exploring AI Investment Opportunities Beyond Mega-Cap Tech Giants

Lori Keith, Parnassus Investments portfolio manager and senior analyst, says megacaps are not the only way to play the AI boom. She shares where she sees opportunities in mid-caps — from the companies powering the buildout to those using AI to boost productivity. She joins Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Tech.” ——– Like this video? Subscribe…

Published

1 day ago

August 13, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

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People & Blogs

Your watch might be your new doctor’s assistant #TEDTalks

Genome researcher Michael Snyder believes health wearables, such as smart watches and glucose monitors, can transform medicine, shifting from reactive to predictive. (In fact, he’s such a big fan of these devices that he wears eight of them every single day.) From spotting an illness days before symptoms appear to helping prevent the onset of…

Published

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CYBER TECH TV

Science & Technology

The VC Backing the American Dream with Manan Mehta, Unshackled Ventures

Immigrant founders have built some of the world’s most valuable companies, but many still face barriers that make it harder to get a startup off the ground. Visa restrictions, limited access to friends-and-family capital, shallow networks, and a venture industry built around pattern matching can keep promising founders from getting funded before they have a…

Published

1 day ago

August 13, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

In this episode of Build Mode () , host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Manan Mehta, co-founder and managing partner of Unshackled Ventures, () to talk about why he believes immigrant founders represent one of venture capital’s biggest overlooked opportunities. Manan breaks down how Unshackled built an investment model designed to help founders navigate immigration barriers, why traditional VC pattern matching causes investors to miss potential outliers, and how his team evaluates founders at day zero—often before they have a product, customers, or traction. He also explains why the structural gaps that make some founders harder to fund may be exactly where investors should be looking for outsized returns.

They get into:

•

The four structural barriers immigrant founders face when starting companies in the U.S.

•

How Unshackled Ventures helps founders navigate visas while building their startups

•

Why VC’s reliance on pattern matching can cause investors to miss outlier founders

•

How Manan evaluates founders before they have a product, customers, or traction

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The IQ, AQ, EQ, and SQ framework Unshackled uses to evaluate founder potential

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Why resilience, lived experience, and a founder’s relationship to the problem can matter more than a polished pitch

•

Why structural gaps can create some of the biggest opportunities for investors

•

How founders without traditional networks can find alternative paths to early capital

•

Why founders should understand their personal “why” instead of trying to fit the traditional VC mold

Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts () , Spotify () , or wherever you like to listen () . And watch the full videos on YouTube () . New episodes of Build Mode () drop every Thursday.

Chapters:

00:00 – Why VCs Miss Outlier Founders

01:45 – Why Manan Mehta Founded Unshackled Ventures

04:15 – The Problem With VC Pattern Matching

06:15 – The Friends-and-Family Gap for Immigrant Founders

08:18 – How Unshackled Helps Founders Navigate Visas

10:40 – Building a Startup in Today’s Immigration Environment

12:19 – Solving One of Unshackled’s Hardest Immigration Cases

14:39 – What the U.S. Stands to Lose16:59 – Raising Unshackled’s First Venture Funds

19:40 – Can You Start a Company on an H-1B Visa?

22:13 – How to Evaluate a Founder at Day Zero

28:30 – Measuring IQ, AQ, EQ, and SQ

30:26 – How Fear Drives VC Pattern Matching

33:01 – Why Structural Gaps Create Outlier Opportunities

35:14 – Finding Startup Capital Outside Traditional VC

38:09 – Why Founders Need to Understand Their “Why”

Hosted by Isabelle Johannesen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.