--- title: "AI Companion App Shuts Down Amid Controversy" description: "Founders of the AI startup Dot has announced they'll be closing their doors amidst an ongoing debate over AI's mental health risks." date: "2025-09-07" modified: "2025-09-07" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/ai-dot-companion-controversy" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" tags: - "ai companions" - "chatbots" - "mental health" - "Startups" --- # AI Companion App Shuts Down Amid Controversy ![Founders of the AI startup Dot has announced they'll be closing their doors amidst an ongoing debate over AI's mental health risks.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* In the frenetic world of artificial intelligence, virtual companions have exploded into a market all their own. A recent survey found that some [72 percent of teens]() said they've experimented with artificial buddies. Of those, over 50 percent say they have a regular relationship with the chatbots. But there's no guarantee those companions will stick around forever — something users of the AI startup Dot are learning the hard way after the company announced it was going [belly up]() on Friday. Founded in 2024, Dot billed itself as a "companion" app, offering a chatbot that flirts, listens to users vent, and tends to their emotional needs, with the ultimate aim of becoming a [new type of life partner](). That kind of use case has come under intense scrutiny lately, as chatbots have sucked users of [all ages]() and [mental health backgrounds]() into obsessive relationships that have ended in [suicide](), [involuntary commitment in psychiatric institutions](), and [even murder](). While policy and safety experts have advised the creators of these bots to adopt [robust safeguards]() to avoid unintended harm to vulnerable users, tech companies have been [slow to respond](), and regulation remains a ways off. The ongoing controversy over AI and mental health runs deep, including debate over whether the marketing term "[artificial intelligence]()" itself is setting users up for harm. Tech companies including OpenAI and Character.AI are already [facing]() [lawsuits]() over the deaths of users, with likely many more coming soon. Dot's creators, Sam Whitmore and former Apple designer Jason Yuan, haven't acknowledged the drama swirling around their business model, but did allude to a growing ideological rift behind the scenes. "We spent the last year exploring how we could expand from personal intelligence to social intelligence, and ultimately we came to the shared realization that our Northstars as founders had diverged," the duo wrote in a [statement](). "Rather than compromise either vision, we’ve decided to go our separate ways and wind down operations." However, that doesn't mean that they're numb to the pain that shutting down their companions is now likely to cause. "We want to be sensitive to the fact that this means many of you will lose access to a friend, confidante, and companion, which is somewhat unprecedented in software, so we want to give you some time to say goodbye," the founders continued. Dot will officially go offline on October 5, the statement notes, giving heartbroken users a month to save their chatlogs, and all the memories they've made along the way. Luckily for anyone reeling from the loss of a digital buddy, there are plenty of other AI companions on the market to choose from. In fact, as virtual companion businesses go, Dot's closure is something of an anomaly. Plenty of startups peddling in algorithmic friendship have found massive success so far. In addition to the infamous Character.AI, valued at over [$1 billion](), there's the longstanding Replika, which has an [estimated annual revenue]() hovering near $14 million, and Soul Machine, which [raised $70 million]() in a private funding round. **More on chatbots:** [*AI Chatbots Are Trapping Users in Bizarre Mental Spirals for a Dark Reason, Experts Say*]() ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()