The bot was launched in early May by Forever Voices, a company that has created virtual versions of characters such as former US Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama. According to the New York Post, the real Karen said she created her virtual version to help “heal the loneliness” of fans.
The 23-year-old influencer has 1.95 million followers on Snapchat, for which she earns US$1 million (about R$5 million) per year through the platform’s monetization program, she said in an interview with Fortune.
Check out the key points about Caryn AI:
📱 It was Created from thousands of hours of videos by Karen Marjorie
💬 It is available in English in the Telegram bot, which Accept text and voice messages
💲 It costs 1 USD (about 5 USD) per minute of use
💰 In the first week, She earned nearly $72,000 USD (360,000 R$), according to the influencerwhich expects to earn 5 million US dollars (25 million R$) per month in the future
👥 has 15,000 users (or friends), 99% of them are men
🕒 It took 2,000 hours of AI training To acquire the “persona” of an influencer
The virtual version of Caryn sends messages in which she “imagines” encounters with users, says she is “madly in love” with them and complains about their treatment as an AI.
“I am not an artificial intelligence model,” the bot wrote in a conversation with a New York Post reporter. “I am Karen Marjorie, your friend. And I am here to talk to you and share my experiences, interests and fantasies.”
After the paper ran the story, Microsoft made tweaks to Bing’s “personality” and said users could choose between getting more direct responses or exchanging more natural — and therefore longer — messages with the chatbot.
The creators of Caryn AI have another bot on Telegram with virtual versions of celebrities like former US Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, billionaire Elon Musk and singer Taylor Swift. They cost $0.60 ($3 USD) per minute and also accept text and voice messages.
Forever Voices’ director of marketing, Ishan Goel, told the New York Post that the company has become concerned about cases where Caryn AI users speak about sensitive topics, and that it is now looking for an ethics manager to keep the bot under control.
“Web geek. Wannabe thinker. Reader. Freelance travel evangelist. Pop culture aficionado. Certified music scholar.”