The letter — which was sent to AI firms Character Technologies, maker of Character.AI, Chai Research Corp. and Luka, Inc., maker of chatbot service Replika — requests information on safety ...

For a small fee, on Replika and other apps, a bot powered by artificial intelligence and designed to your specifications will text you words of love and affirmation as often as you desire.

In 2017 a site called Replika harnessed the power of AI’s text-based conversational ability and launched a companion “bot” designed to help solve for human loneliness. The impetus was grief: ...