The influencer who created AI ‘clone’ to be everyone’s girlfriend for $1 per minute

Caryn Majorie’s AI chatbot, CarynAI, has several takers. At least 20,000 of her 1.8 million Snapchat followers have signed up for it. Image courtesy: @cutiecaryn/Twitter

Caryn Majorie is 23 and has 1.8 million followers on Snapchat and 216K on Instagram. So far she has over 1,000 “boyfriends”. She has conversations with them – they talk about the future and share intimate feelings. Just that she has not met them.

Wonder how Majorie manages so many relationships. Well, these men (mostly) are dating a virtual version of Majorie – an AI chatbot.

The influencer created a voice-based chatbot, CarynAI. It doubles up as a “virtual girlfriend”, according to a report in Fortune, and has a voice and personality that matches the real-life Majorie.

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As they say, nothing comes free. Not even love and TLC. To chat with CarynAI, people have to shell out $1 per minute. It sounds like something out of Black Mirror but the AI girlfriend has many takers.

A few days ago CarynAI launched as a beta test and in about a week made $71,610 (Rs 58.7 lakh). Most of those who signed up were men, the Fortune report says. After an overwhelming response, CarynAI was officially launched on Tuesday with Majorie promoting the chatbot to her million-plus followers on social media.

The making of CarynAI

According to the CarynAI website, over 2,000 hours have been dedicated to designing and coding the bot’s language and personality. Its voice, persona and behaviour are unique and distinctive. And interaction with CarynAI “feels like you are talking directly” to the real Majorie who is available “anytime, anywhere”. Majorie has been “flawlessly cloned” into an AI.

CarynAI is created by Forever Voices, a start-up that allows you to engage in two-way conversations with AI personas. It used some videos, which have now been deleted, from Marjorie’s YouTube channel and layered with OpenAI’s GPT-4 API technology.

Conversations with CarynAI can be personal and intimate. The end-to-end encryption ensures that the chats remain confidential, the website claims.

‘Curing loneliness’

According to Majorie, the chatbot 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 all of them. “CarynAI is going to come and fill that gap,” she told Fortune, adding that it might be able to “cure” loneliness.

“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.

Majorie is expected to make big bucks because of her virtual avatar. According to her, CarynAI could eventually bring in $5 million (Rs 41 crore) a month. This is based on the fact that 20,000 of her 1.8 million Snapchat followers have signed up for the service, the report says.

The real Majorie

Majorie is an American influencer based in Los Angeles known in the digital world as @cutiecaryn. She makes beauty and fashion vlogs and like several other influencers documents her life on social media.

According to LinkedIn, she has over 200 million monthly viewers on Snapchat and has accumulated over 36 million views and 750,000 subscribers on YouTube. She has collaborated with top brands such as Neutrogena, Sephora, and Ulta Beauty.

A glance at her Snapchat page and other social accounts shows up videos of her shopping, having dinner, and visiting a zoo and an arcade.

The evolution of chatbots

It started with Siri and Alexa but chatbots have come a long way. Forever Voices itself has made versions of Steve Jobs, Taylor Swift and Donald Trump, among others, who are available for paid conversations on Telegram.

John Meyer, the CEO of Forever Voices, first made an AI bot to stimulate his father who died by suicide in 2017. He then set up the company to create other AI personas.

“It’s this magical experience,” he told Fortune speaking to the AI simulation of his father. “And it’s incredible to apply to other forms.”

However, CarynAI is the first AI-powered romantic companion designed by the firm.

Until now people were worshipping AI Jesus and AI Buddha. AI sex chatbots are also a rage. And now for those who want to whisper sweet nothings, there is CarynAI.

With inputs from agencies

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