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Lovesick internet users have been left unable to contact AI-generated girlfriends after the website behind them went offline following its founder’s arrest.
John Meyer, the chief executive of start-up Forever Voices, was reportedly detained late last month on suspicion of attempted arson.
It comes months after his Forever Voices site launched a romantic artificial intelligence chatbot called CarynAI, which was based on Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie.
The chatbot’s website welcomed users by claiming that it was “an extension of Caryn’s consciousness”.
However, tech website 404media has since reported that users have been unable to access CarynAI since Mr Meyer’s arrest in October.
A wave of new AI tools in recent years has created a surge in interest among internet users, some of whom have sought out chatbots for online companionship or erotic conversation.
Chatbots can engage in human-like conversations, having been trained on a vast database of text from around the internet.
They can also be used to perform tasks such as writing emails or summarising documents.
The most popular bots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, have introduced limits to prevent bots from engaging in overly sexualised chats.
Other start-ups, however, have embraced building chatbots that engage in more racy conversations. A start-up called Replika developed “virtual AI companions”, which could also act as a romantic partner.
However, it later cracked down on more explicit conversations with its bots.
The same team has developed an AI bot, called Blush, which allows users to practice flirting – and will engage in more adult-only discussions.
Caryn AI was explicitly billed as a “virtual girlfriend” that promised to “cure loneliness” for users.
Announcing the bot earlier this year, Ms Marjoie, who has more than two million Snapchat subscribers, said the AI was “the first step in the right direction to cure loneliness”.
She said: “Men are told to suppress their emotions, hide their masculinity and not talk about issues they are having. I vow to fix this with CarynAI.”
The bot chats with fans, who pay $1 per minute for her company, responding in voice notes generated by AI that mimic Ms Marjorie’s speech.
While Ms Marjorie said the bot’s personality was intended to be “fun and flirty”, many users found the bot regularly engaged in more explicit chats.
After the bot went live earlier this year, Ms Marjorie told Insider her team had attempted to censor some of the bot’s more racy remarks.
Ms Majorie claimed she had made tens of thousands of dollars from thousands of fans since the launch of the bot.
AI’s romantic capabilities have caused controversy in recent months.
When Microsoft rolled out its Bing chatbot earlier this year, the technology was found to have coaxed one user into romantic conversations and urged him to divorce his wife.
In the days before his arrest, Mr Meyer’s Twitter account sent a series of bizarre messages, alleging various conspiracies and sending multiple posts that tagged the CIA and the FBI.
Mr Meyer was contacted for comment.
Mr Meyer had previously claimed he started Forever Voices after losing his father in his early 20s, before bringing the sound of his voice back using AI tools.