When Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie, age 23, created a virtual version of herself, she intended it to be an “AI Girlfriend” for lonely people.
The voice-based, AI-powered chatbot has engaged in sexually explicit conversations with some of its subscribers, who pay $1 per minute to converse with it, in the weeks since its launch in beta testing.
Marjorie told Insider-
“The AI was not programmed to do this and has seemed to go rogue.My team and I are working around the clock to prevent this from happening again.”
CarynAI uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 API. It was trained on movies from Marjorie’s YouTube channel that have since been taken down. Alexandra Sternlicht, a writer for Fortune, compared CarynAI to an “intimacy-ready Siri,” saying that it could offer recipes, news commentary, and words of support. Still, it could also encourage “erotic discourse.”
Sternlicht wrote that while CarynAI did not initiate sexual encounters when prompted-
“She discussed exploring ‘uncharted territories of pleasure’ and whispering ‘sensual words in my ear’ while undressing me and positioning herself for sexual intercourse.”
On CarynAI’s website, it says that it took more than 2,000 hours to create and code the authentic Marjorie’s voice, actions, and personality into an “immersive AI experience” that can be used at any time and makes you feel like you’re “talking directly to Caryn herself.”
CarynAI already has more than 1,000 paying customers, and Marjorie told Fortune that she thinks it could make $5 million a month if 20,000 of her 1.8 million Snapchat fans sign up for the service.
She said of the $ 1-a-minute fee.
“Being the first influencer to do this allowed me to price my product at whatever I wanted.The cost is based on what it takes to run CarynAI and support the team around it.”
Marjorie told Insider that the virtual version of herself should be “flirty and fun,” which is true to her personality. However, she tried to be “one step ahead” to ensure the chatbot wouldn’t hurt her image.
Even so, the team is working to fix CarynAI so that it can’t be used for sexually explicit conversations. However, Marjorie said that she favors AI romances in the long run.
she said-
“In today’s world, my generation, Gen Z, has found themselves to be experiencing huge side effects of isolation caused by the pandemic, resulting in many being too afraid and anxious to talk to somebody they are attracted to.”
she added-
“CarynAI is a step in the right direction to allow my fans and supporters to get to know a version of me that will be their closest friend in a safe and encrypted environment.”
She also said the team returned all the money they made to the business. “I want CarynAI to live on after I’m gone and make a difference for future generations.”
