An influencer created an AI version of herself that can be your girlfriend for $1 a minute. She says

Publish date: 2024-06-24
2023-05-10T12:01:10Z

Caryn Marjorie, 23, has more than 1.8 million followers on Snapchat. But her virtual copy — an AI-powered, voice-based chatbot called CarynAI — already has more than 1,000 paying subscribers.

Fortune was the first to report on CarynAI, a chatbot that was described as a "virtual girlfriend" and charged users $1 a minute to chat with it.

CarynAI launched as a beta test earlier this month and generated $71,610 in revenue in about a week, almost entirely from men, Fortune reported, citing an income statement provided by the influencer's business manager.

According to CarynAI's website, more than 2,000 hours were spent designing and coding the real-life Marjorie's voice, behaviors, and personality into an "immersive AI experience," which it says is available anytime and feels as if "you're talking directly to Caryn herself."

It used now-deleted videos from Marjorie's YouTube channel and layered it with OpenAI's GPT-4 API technology, Fortune reported.

The influencer said CarynAI would allow her to communicate with more of her social-media followers, adding that it's not currently possible for her to directly speak with each and every one of her followers, per Fortune.

"CarynAI is going to come and fill that gap," she told the magazine, adding that it might be able to "cure" loneliness.

"CarynAI will never replace me," she said. "CarynAI is simply just an extension of me, an extension of my consciousness."

Marjorie told Fortune that she thought CarynAI could eventually bring in $5 million a month, basing this on 20,000 of her 1.8 million Snapchat followers signing up for the service.

Marjorie also told Fortune that signing up for CarynAI would provide subscribers with some of the benefits of having a real-life companion.

"Whether you need somebody to be comforting or loving, or you just want to rant about something that happened at school or at work, CarynAI will always be there for you," she said.

But according to the Fortune reporter Alexandra Sternlicht, the AI feels more like an "intimacy-ready Siri" than a virtual girlfriend.

Sternlicht wrote that while CarynAI could offer recipes, commentary on the news, and words of support, it could also encourage "erotic discourse" and detailed sexual scenarios.

Marjorie, who has experienced stalkers turning up at her home, said she was aware that her AI persona could also put her at risk of further stalking. But she told Fortune that this was just part of the "influencer game," adding that she had hired 24/7 security and would not share her location with her followers.

Correction: May 10, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the Fortune reporter who interviewed Caryn Marjorie. It was Alexandra Sternlicht, not Alexandra Sternlight.

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