A virtual companion designed to mimic the tone, memory, and conversational style of a romantic partner. These apps typically combine a language model with a persona, chat history, and sometimes voice, generated images, or an animated avatar.
The category has grown quickly since the early 2020s as chat model costs dropped and mobile apps made 24/7 messaging easy to set up. Users often compare options on memory, personality consistency, and whether the companion can hold a long-term thread across weeks of conversation.
Also called: AI girlfriend, virtual girlfriend, AI companion, chatbot girlfriend, AI partner app, synthetic companion
