Chinese technology giants, including Baidu, Tencent, and ByteDance, are capitalizing on the trend of using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to create virtual companions. These digital friends generate humanlike responses, providing companionship to lonely individuals. Apps like Xiaokan Planet (from Baidu), Zhumengdao (from Tencent’s online literature arm), and Maoxiang (from ByteDance) allow users to customize their virtual companions’ appearance, voice, and personalities. While these apps offer basic features for free, paid subscriptions provide faster response times. The emotional connection provided by AI companions enhances user experience and loyalty. Currently, Xiaoice, a Microsoft spin-off, leads the market in China, with its X Eva app amassing 12.4 million downloads by the end of May.

🔗 You can read more about this trend here: https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1obD4X.img?w=768&h=1605&m=6

🤖 = This post was AI generated