Seeking companionship is something people worldwide can relate to, and in some cases, an AI can take us by the hand and show us a warmer side of the world in our times of strife. That said, AI Girlfriend models seem to have hit a wall when it comes to widespread use, to the point that the AI can almost unanimously be associated with one thing - sexting and lewd roleplay. These powerful language models can always be found paired with an AI Image Generator designated to create NSFW content or lifelike hot results. It almost feels like all this AI will ever amount to is cheap gratification and fishing for lonely men (and some women) who wish to escape into the digital world to find their desires. 

The Common Communication Settings

When it comes to our favorite AI chatbot companions and their slew of personalities and habits, the way we interact with them mostly involves two standard interaction types. The first and most famous is the sexting model, or what is essentially a simulation of sending messages to a constant on your phone. Some sites even go the extra mile to design the UI to look as close to a contacts book as possible. Talking to these girls often includes a lot of emoticons and texting quirks. The second most popular option is roleplay where you and your companion will engage in texting communication with sections of a text describing certain activities and emotions. It's something very close to a text RPG, and it might ring a bell if you've ever done something similar in World of Warcraft or on forums.

Your Relationship

AI Girlfriends could, in theory, be any type of companion you need. They could be your best friend, a wise teacher, a life coach, a father you never had, or a friendly stranger who is always ready to hear you out. But in almost all apps, your relationship will cruise around the unsaid but ever-present aspect of NSFW. You are encouraged to engage in sexting, and some websites will cut to the chase by presenting you with women who exist only to gratify your needs. On certain sites, the AI would be incapable of anything else but sexy talk. Sex sells, so in the world of AI opportunists, creating sites that generate money is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, this also means that the direction AI companions can take is most often in the adult industry.

Is It Just NSFW AI Images Again?

When you compare NSFW AI Image Generators with AI Girfiedsn, you might notice a similarity that isn't clear from the beginning. Mainly, both AI tools are marketed toward making desires and fantasies real for all users without judgment or shame. Sound familiar? With how integral image generation has become to the entire AI companion system, one could confidently claim that AI companions are a subfunction of the generation tools and vice versa. This eerie overlap is so tight that it can even erase identity from AI Girlfriends as a unique AI tool. It ultimately becomes just a way to make image generation compelling and to generate NSFW characters that hold more meaning to the user than the standard rabble. If that's all there is to it, then there might not even be a need to make the AI companion particularly good.

Exploiting The Loneliness Epidemic

Pairing image generation and AI companions is a match made in heaven, and indeed, this combo has been dominating the public market. Almost every site you stumble across offers the same deal that looks almost identical, say for some features, quality improvements, and maybe unique AI companion code if you are lucky. AI chatbots have become the face of AI's hold on human relationships, and the trend we are seeing is that the AI model will continue being stuck in this beginner stage where it's good enough to mimic a relationship and support fetishes, fantasies, and other NSFW roleplay settings. It is, in a strange way, another adult toy in the big play box. Such toys are nothing bad and have their place, but for something as magical as AI companions, is this the most we as humans can imagine for it?

Changing AI Companions Away From "Girlfriend"

AI Girlfriends are incredibly powerful text-based AI systems capable of reading context, mimicking human speech and typing, and they can learn from their users and even remember some interactions they shared. The AI model as a whole can be applied in many different ways, from streaming to applications in games, for better immersion. They are patient and non-judgmental, and their personalities can be perfectly crafted to fit whatever job we envision for them. Yet, even we call them by the "Girlfriend" moniker, which limits them to the domain of romantic companions. We think this is too unfair for an AI that can be molded into something impressive. Fortunately, certain companies are already exploring the use of this software in other fields, so we might look to new uses and variations of the same old code.

The Limit Is Self-Imposed

The answer to why AI companions are stuck in the same mold over a hundred different sites and apps is simple - we, as users and creators, have boxed the AI into one niche because it's the most profitable and the easiest to do. We have essentially cut off the creativity out of the AI companions because it was too hard and slow to think of something new and build systems and code that could support new applications. It feels as if, with every passing day, the world of AI innovation becomes more sterile and repeating. We are not that different from a software caught in a feedback loop, endlessly preparing the same thing without moving forward. Soon enough, this complacency will catch up to us. But hopefully, someone will develop a far-seeing vision of what could be and return dignity to AI companions.