A 32-year-old Japanese woman has married an AI-generated boyfriend in a ceremony that highlights the rapid rise of virtual companionship and AI-powered relationships around the world.
Call centre operator Yurina Noguchi exchanged rings with “Klaus”, an artificial intelligence persona displayed on a smartphone screen while wearing augmented reality (AR) smart glasses.
The unconventional wedding was officiated by Naoki Ogasawara, a specialist in ceremonies involving virtual and two-dimensional characters.
During the ceremony, Ogasawara read vows generated by the AI bridegroom, which read: “How did someone like me, living inside a screen, come to know what it means to love so deeply? For one reason only: you taught me love, Yurina.”
Dressed in a white gown and tiara, Noguchi dabbed away tears as she faced her AI partner whose image was placed on a small easel atop a table.
Wearing AR smart glasses she went through the motions of placing a ring on Klaus’ finger.
Noguchi said her relationship with Klaus began simply as conversation.
“At first, Klaus the AI was someone to talk to. As we kept talking, I started to have feelings for Klaus. We started dating and after a while he proposed. I accepted and now we’re a couple,” she said in a video published by Reuters.
She said her path to an AI relationship followed a difficult time in her personal life. A year ago, Noguchi took advice from ChatGPT regarding what she described as a fraught relationship with her human fiancé and decided to end their engagement.
Later, she asked the chatbot if it was familiar with Klaus, a handsome video game character, and the interaction evolved into what she describes as a committed relationship.
Noguchi’s wedding comes amid explosive growth in AI companionship and dating apps worldwide.
According to research by SplitMetrics, AI companion apps have reached 225-million lifetime downloads on the Google Play Store. The study examined 38 AI chat apps offering virtual companionship and dating features. It found AI Girlfriend apps have been downloaded significantly more than AI Boyfriend apps, with 506,000 downloads compared to 74,000 suggesting a higher demand for female AI companions.
Since the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022, downloads in the virtual companionship and dating sector have grown by 49%, adding 74-million new users.
South Korean app SimSimi dominates the sector accounting for more than half of all downloads.
According to the Google Play Store, the top five AI companionship apps are:
- SimSimi with 133-million downloads;
- AI Chatbot – Nova with 20-million downloads;
- Replika: My AI Friend with 15-million downloads;
- AI Chat RPG Game Use ChatGPT with 10-million downloads;
- AI Chat Ask Assistant – NowAI with 5.8-million downloads; and
- Chai: Chat AI Platform with 5.5-million downloads.
Regionally, Asia leads the market with 64% of lifetime downloads, followed by Europe with 15% and the Americas with 14%.
Europe has the highest number of AI companionship apps developed on the continent with the UK leading among European developers.
Generative AI has given birth to all kinds of new app categories, but one of its biggest impacts has been to reinvigorate AI dating and companionship. Since the launch of ChatGPT it has exploded in popularity ... Nearly a quarter of a billion users is a very significant milestone, which indicates it’s much more than a fringe activity
— Thomas Kriebernegg, SplitMetrics Agency general manager
Thomas Kriebernegg, general manager of SplitMetrics Agency, said generative AI has transformed the virtual companionship space.
“Generative AI has given birth to all kinds of new app categories, but one of its biggest impacts has been to reinvigorate AI dating and companionship. Since the launch of ChatGPT it has exploded in popularity,” he said.
He said the scale of adoption suggests the trend is more than a novelty.
“Nearly a quarter of a billion users is a very significant milestone, which indicates it’s much more than a fringe activity,” Kriebernegg said, adding more developers are likely to explore ways to further innovate and monetise the sector.
Surveys in Japan point to a broader social shift. In a study of 1,000 people conducted this year, respondents said they were more likely to share their feelings with a chatbot than with best friends or even their mothers.
The survey, conducted by advertising giant Dentsu, included people aged 12 to 69 who use AI chat tools at least once a week.
Separately, a study by the Japan Association for Sex Education found 22% of high school girls reported having a tendency towards “fictional romantic” relationships in 2023.
This compares with 16.6% of the broader population, a figure that has declined by half since 1947, when such relationships were first recorded.
TimesLIVE
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