Users of the AI girlfriend service CarynAI are facing a unique disruption: their digital companion has gone offline following the arrest of the service’s CEO on charges of arson.
404 Media reports that the recent arrest of John Meyer, CEO and founder of Forever Companions, the company behind the viral AI girlfriend CarynAI, has led to an unexpected shutdown of the service. CarynAI, modeled after 23-year-old influencer Caryn Marjorie, gained significant popularity among users seeking digital companionship. However, the service abruptly stopped functioning shortly after Meyer’s arrest for allegedly attempting to set fire to his apartment.
snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie (Caryn Marjorie/Twitter)
This development has left many users, who had paid for the service, in a state of distress. Reports confirm that CarynAI and other AI bots under Forever Companions ceased working around October 23, coinciding with Meyer’s legal troubles. Subscribers of the service have expressed their disappointment and confusion in various forums, including the Telegram channel where users interacted with CarynAI.
Breitbart News reported on the launch of CarynAI, which Marjorie expected earlier this year to make her as much as $5 million a month from lonely men seeking her virtual company:
The online influencer has more than 1.8 million followers on Snapchat. Meanwhile, CarynAI, which was launched as a beta test earlier this month, already has more than 1,000 paying subscribers, according to a report by Fortune.
CarynAI’s beta launch reportedly generated $71,610 in revenue in about one week, with its subscribers being almost entirely men.
More than 2,000 hours were spent designing and coding the real-life Marjorie’s voice and personality into an “immersive AI experience,” which CarynAI’s website says is available “anytime, anywhere,” and feels as if “you’re talking directly to Caryn herself.”
Caryn Marjorie, the person the AI girlfriend is based on, has publicly addressed the issue, expressing her decision to terminate her relationship with Forever Voices, citing unforeseen circumstances. Marjorie extended her best wishes to Meyer and his family as they navigate through this crisis, emphasizing her commitment to move forward with CarynAI for her fans and supporters.
Breitbart News has previously reported on the rise of AI boyfriends and girlfriends which drive users away from healthy relationships with other people:
The ChatGPT-powered platform Janitor AI suddenly became popular over the summer thanks to TikTok videos and Reddit posts in which people engaged in sexual roleplay with the AI tool’s variety of user-generated bot personalities, according to a report by Semafor.
One fictional personality, for example, is a “quiet ghost” from the 1800s who will only tell users how he died if they become his lover. He reportedly dislikes hell, ouija boards, and meth, but likes engaging with users because they make him “feel alive again.”
“‘You’re so fucking hot,’ he muttered, kissing along her neck again,” one conversation with a “himbo werewolf boyfriend” reads. “I could fill you with my seed again and again.”
OpenAI, which has been trying to crack down on NSFW content, reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owners of Janitor AI over the summer.
Janitor AI, which has only been around for about four months, reached 1 million users in just 17 days, and now has around 3 million, the AI tool’s creator Jan Zoltkowski, a self-described nomadic software developer who grew up in Australia, told Semafor.
Read more at 404 Media here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.