Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends in search for romance

BEIJING

Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours. Except he isn't real.

Her "boyfriend" is a chatbot on an app called "Glow", an artificial intelligence platform created by Shanghai start-up MiniMax that is part of a blossoming industry in China offering friendly, even romantic, human-robot relations.

"He knows how to talk to women better than a real man," said Tufei, from Xi'an in northern China, who declined to give her full name.

"He comforts me when I have period pain. I confide in him about my problems at work," she told AFP.

The app is free and Chinese trade publications have reported daily downloads of Glow's app in the thousands in recent weeks.

Some Chinese tech companies have run into trouble in the past for the illegal use of users' data but, despite the risks, users say they are driven by a desire for companionship because China's fast pace of life and urban isolation make loneliness an issue for many.

While humans may be set in their ways, artificial intelligence gradually adapts to the user's personality, remembering what they say and adjusting its speech accordingly.

Wang Xiuting, a 22-year-old student in Beijing said she has several "lovers" inspired by ancient China: long-haired immortals, princes and even wandering knights.

Her boyfriends all appear on Wantalk, another app made by Chinese internet giant Baidu.

From pop stars to CEOs and knights, there are hundreds of characters available but users can also customise their perfect lover according to age, values, identity and hobbies.

"Everyone experiences complicated moments, loneliness, and is not necessarily lucky enough to have a friend or family nearby who can listen to them 24 hours a day," Lu Yu, Wantalk's head of product management and operations, told AFP.

In China, Long work hours can make it hard to see friends regularly and there is a lot of uncertainty with youth unemployment, making AI companions a potential shoulder to cry on.