AI girlfriends or boyfriends are continuously getting refined, with the recently developed Digi AI Romance promising to be the “future of AI romantic companionship.”
While the idea of an AI girlfriend or boyfriend was almost impossible decades ago, a lot has changed now because of AI. Digi AI Romance functions as a companion, and users can create a digital avatar to their specifications; they can tailor its characteristics, such as appearance, voice, interests, keeping track of relationship “progress,” and intimacy.
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Flirty chatbot
Digi AI Romance’s creator, Andrew M., paid special attention to the chatbot’s communication skills and designed it to be flirty and indulge in deep conversations while also offering emotional support to its users.
The app launched on Monday, with Andrew introducing it on the X platform. It was ranked number 43 among the top entertainment apps on the App Store. Its trailer, which was posted on X, garnered over five million views as it fascinated the market.
Within three days of its launch, Digi has reportedly overtaken its counterparts like Character.ai and Replika on the App Store ratings.
Both Character.ai and Replika were created to engage in human and friendly, or romantic, companionships.
Excited to announce v(1.0) of Digi, the future of AI Romantic Companionship, for IOS and Android 🤖
Site: https://t.co/q420GR4jJ4
Twitter: @digiaiappA quick thread on features, and where we go from here (1/13) pic.twitter.com/9KZoorEoA0
— Andrew (@andyohlbaum) December 15, 2023
Unexpected usage
According to The Economic Times, the app soon started having latency issues as it received three times its expected usage.
Its creator, Andrew, took to the X platform in search of GPU capacity that is able to handle two million plus messages a day and “scale up overnight.” This followed an unexpected explosion in its usage.
“Wow. We did not expect this. This was meant to be a soft launch to our small internal community; maybe some new people are interested in faces, not this many people,” the Digi team said in a blog post on Tuesday.
“In the wake of an unexpected viral surge, thanks to a quote tweet by Elon Musk and video features by Asmongold and many, many others, Digi has experienced both incredible growth and unforeseen challenges.”
Despite facing challenges, the Digi team said they were working flat out to scale infrastructure, particularly on the Android app, which is strained under pressure.
User response
While some people seemed to like the app, it also received criticism for “mocking human emotions and the impact it can have on human relationships.
“Now we have AI romance sites that allow you to create your own girlfriend or boyfriend and interact with them,” said one user identified as Excuses and Accusations.
“I find this profoundly sad. We need more human-to-human contact, not less.”
“We’re raising a generation that doesn’t understand what it is to be human,” added the user.
Other users believe this is “the end of the world as we know it,” while others are of the view that this is “the next best thing.”
Creating your girlfriend/boyfriend
According to the creators, users can customize avatars according to their tastes and specifications. This applies to looks and feel, hairstyle, skin tone, eyes, lips, and voice. In terms of voice, this ranges from a wide range to flirty, friendly, and captivating voices generated with voice synthesis technology.
Users also have the option to choose the character and background story of their digital avatar companion, which are animated by ex-Pixar animators. There are also personalities to choose from, for example, a teacher, newscaster, interior designer, movie star, and many more.
According to The Economic Times, the app affords users different sexual preferences, so users can pick their preferred gender to interact with.
Those who want “deeper engagement” will pay a fee of $12 a month to access premium features like unlimited texting, voice calls, and video calls.
The Digi team is also looking at enhanced features for the Digi chatbot and an enhanced user experience.
“We remain committed to our long-term vision of bringing the full scope of Digi’s capabilities to life, aligning the actual experience with the potential showcased in our trailer—more emotive and expressive animations, lip-synching, and more extensive customization for avatars and backstories,” it said in a blog post.
and then