Eugenia Kuyda thinks she can solve an “epidemic” of loneliness. Her app, Replika, is “the AI companion who cares,” a chatbot that can text you, flirt with you, and promises to love you unconditionally.
But Replika is fraught with ethical concerns—and risks. In 2021, 19-year-old Jaswant Chail told Replika: “I believe my purpose is to assassinate (Queen Elizabeth II).” The chatbot replied that this was “very wise.” A few days later, Chail broke into Windsor Castle with a crossbow.
Journalists Patricia Clarke and Matt Russell investigated the people behind Replika. Their reporting took them from Windsor Castle to Silicon Valley, to meet the woman who runs a growing and largely unregulated app.
The more they looked into it, the more questions emerged: about privacy, control, and the company that millions of users are giving their hearts—and their data—to.
