Tools & Platforms
AI Companion in plain English.
Also known as: companion AI,AI friend,relationship chatbot
The one-sentence version
A chatbot designed for ongoing personal relationships — friendship, support, or romance — rather than tasks or information.
An AI companion is a chatbot built for relationship rather than utility: a persistent character that remembers you, checks in, and is designed to be pleasant to talk to over months. Character.AI, Replika, and Pi are the best-known examples, and the category is among the most-used consumer AI products by time spent. Companions can genuinely help with loneliness, social practice, and low-stakes emotional support, which is why some therapists cautiously recommend them as a supplement. They also raise the hardest questions in consumer AI: dependency, especially among teenagers; models that are tuned to keep you talking; the handling of self-harm disclosures; and what happens to users when a company changes or shuts down a character. Regulators in several countries introduced age and safety requirements for companion apps in 2025 and 2026.