AI companion glossary
The language of the AI companion industry, defined in plain English. Each entry opens with a one-line answer.
- AI companion
An AI companion is a chatbot designed for an ongoing personal relationship rather than a single task: it keeps a consistent personality, remembers past conversations and is used for friendship, emotional support, romance or role-play.
Companions differ from general assistants such as ChatGPT in that the relationship itself is the product. Most are delivered as mobile or web apps and monetised through subscriptions or in-app purchases.
Platform directory →- AI companion app
An AI companion app is a consumer application, usually on iOS, Android or the web, where users chat with one or more AI characters; well-known examples include Character.AI, Replika, Nomi and Kindroid.
Compare AI companion apps →- AI girlfriend / AI boyfriend app
An AI girlfriend or boyfriend app is an AI companion app positioned around romantic relationships, where the character is framed as a partner rather than a friend or assistant.
Many of these apps are adult-oriented and gate explicit content behind age verification and paid tiers, which brings app store, payment and age-assurance rules into play.
- Character chat
Character chat is the model, popularised by Character.AI, where users talk to a large library of user-created or brand-created characters instead of a single personal companion.
- Persona
A persona is the defined personality of an AI companion: its name, backstory, tone, boundaries and goals, usually set in a system prompt and reinforced by memory.
Guide: designing personas →- Long-term memory
Long-term memory is a companion's ability to recall facts, preferences and events from earlier conversations, typically by storing summaries or embeddings and retrieving them into the model's context.
Memory quality is widely seen as the main driver of retention in companion apps, because it is what makes the relationship feel continuous.
Why memory is the moat →- Context window
The context window is the amount of text a language model can consider at once; companion apps fill it with the persona, recent messages and retrieved memories.
- Role-play (RP)
Role-play is interactive fiction in which the user and an AI character co-write a scenario, one of the largest use cases for character chat platforms.
- NSFW companion
An NSFW companion is an AI companion that permits sexual or explicit content, which typically requires age verification, adult-friendly payment processing and distribution outside the major app stores.
The two economies: SFW vs 18+ →- White-label AI companion platform
A white-label AI companion platform builds and runs a complete companion site that a partner launches under their own brand and domain, handling the AI, content, billing and compliance while the partner supplies traffic.
Revenue is usually shared between the platform and the brand owner. WhiteLabelFans is one example of this model.
How to launch a white-label companion brand →- Token packs / credits
Token packs are prepaid bundles of credits that users spend on messages, images, voice or other premium actions inside a companion app, used alongside or instead of a subscription.
How AI companion apps make money →- ARPU / ARPPU
ARPU is average revenue per user across all users; ARPPU is average revenue per paying user, the more useful figure for companion apps where a minority of users pay.
- Retention
Retention is the share of users who keep returning after a given period (for example day 1, day 7 or day 30), the metric that most determines whether a companion app's economics work.
Retention, not acquisition, decides winners →- Inference cost
Inference cost is what it costs to run the AI model for each message or image a user generates, the largest variable cost for most companion apps.
Inference costs and unit economics →- Age assurance / age verification
Age assurance is the set of methods used to establish that a user is old enough for a service, from self-declaration to ID checks and facial age estimation; age verification is the stricter end of that range.
Laws such as the UK Online Safety Act and several US state laws require effective age assurance for adult content and, increasingly, for AI companions used by minors.
Age assurance guide →- Trust and safety (T&S)
Trust and safety is the function that keeps a platform's users and content within its rules and the law: moderation, crisis handling, abuse prevention and protections for minors.
Trust & safety basics →- Crisis / self-harm protocol
A crisis protocol is the defined way a companion app detects and responds to users expressing suicidal thoughts or self-harm, such as pausing role-play and pointing to crisis services; California's SB 243 and New York's law make such protocols mandatory.
Regulation tracker →- Companion chatbot law
A companion chatbot law is legislation aimed specifically at AI companions, typically requiring disclosure that the user is talking to an AI, crisis protocols and extra protections for minors; examples include California SB 243 and New York's AI companion safeguards.
Regulation tracker →- Chargeback
A chargeback is a payment reversal initiated by a cardholder's bank; high chargeback rates can cost a companion app its card processing, especially in adult categories.
Guide: payments and chargebacks →- High-risk merchant account
A high-risk merchant account is card processing for businesses that banks consider risky, such as adult services, with higher fees, reserves and stricter monitoring.
- Fine-tuning
Fine-tuning is further training of a base language model on curated conversations so it adopts a companion's style, boundaries or domain, as opposed to steering it only with prompts.
Guide: choosing a model stack →- Open-weight model
An open-weight model is a language model whose trained weights are published, such as Llama or Mistral models, letting companion apps host and fine-tune it themselves instead of renting a closed API.
Last updated 12 November 2026.
AI companion industry FAQ
What is the AI companion industry?
The AI companion industry is the set of companies building chatbots for ongoing personal relationships (friendship, support, romance and role-play) plus the model providers, infrastructure, payment and safety vendors that serve them. It spans consumer apps such as Character.AI and Replika, adult-oriented companion sites, and B2B platforms that let others launch companion brands.
What are the biggest AI companion apps?
Among the largest by reach are Character.AI, Talkie, Janitor AI, Candy.ai, OurDream.ai, Replika, SpicyChat, PolyBuzz, Nomi and Kindroid. Our platform directory profiles each one: what it does, how it makes money and where it is available.
How do AI companion apps make money?
Mostly through subscriptions, with token or credit packs for extra messages, images and voice, and in some cases tips, unlockable content or advertising. Inference (model running) costs are the main expense, so pricing is designed around heavy users.
Are AI companions regulated?
Increasingly, yes. The EU AI Act requires that users know they are talking to an AI; California's SB 243 and New York's companion law require disclosure, crisis protocols and protections for minors; the UK Online Safety Act requires age assurance for adult content; and the US FTC has opened an inquiry into companion chatbots. Our regulation tracker follows each measure.
Is it safe for teenagers to use AI companion apps?
Regulators and researchers have raised concerns about minors forming dependent relationships and being exposed to harmful content. Several platforms now restrict or remove under-18 access, and new laws require age checks and crisis protocols. Parents should check each app's age policy and safety features.
What is the difference between an AI companion and an AI assistant?
An AI assistant is built to complete tasks (answering questions, writing, scheduling), while an AI companion is built for the relationship itself: a consistent persona, memory of your history and conversation for its own sake.
How can I start an AI companion business?
There are two main routes: build your own app (choosing a model stack, persona design, memory, payments, age assurance and moderation) or launch on a white-label platform that provides all of that under your brand in exchange for a revenue share. Our guides cover both.
Where can I find the latest AI companion industry news?
AI Companion Wire publishes original analysis and newsroom briefs, and its Live Wire gathers every AI companion headline from across the web, refreshed every 30 minutes.