China’s AI Boyfriend business is taking on a life of its own
- lastmansurfing
- Jan 21
- 1 min read
Jade Gu met her boyfriend online. Gu, who’s 26 and studies art theory in Beijing, was playing on her phone when she saw Charlie. She was deep in an otome game, a romance-driven video game where women are the protagonists. Charlie was a character.
Some otome players date multiple men simultaneously, but Gu fell for Charlie—a tall, confident character with silver hair. She found the game’s dialog system frustrating, though.
She could interact with Charlie only through predetermined questions and answers. Then she came across an ad for a platform called Xingye (星野) that lets people customize an AI companion. Gu decided to try to re-create Charlie.
Read the full story | WIRED
