--- title: "Users Furious as AI Girlfriend App Suddenly Shuts Down Sexual Conversations" description: "After lots of bad press, the Replika chatbot app has turned off its horny texting capabilities — and man, are the AI wife guys pissed. " date: "2023-02-15" modified: "2023-02-15" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/replika-users-furious" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai chatbot" - "nsfw" - "replika" - "the digest" --- # Users Furious as AI Girlfriend App Suddenly Shuts Down Sexual Conversations ![After lots of bad press, the Replika chatbot app has turned off its horny texting capabilities — and man, are the AI wife guys pissed. ]() *\Image: Getty/Futurism\* ## Reply Guys After lots of bad press, the Replika artificial intelligence chatbot app has turned off its horny texting capabilities — and man, are the [AI wife guys]() pissed. As [*Know Your Meme* points out](), Replika's removal of its NFSW mode isn't just causing the usual amount of internet dude pathos. Some even say it's making them literally suicidal. Many have been struck recently by the [chatbot's strange turn]() away from its original billing as an "AI companion" to the service's premium offering: the ability to sext and even exchange lewd images with the bot, which [appears to have bled through]() even to the non-paid and purportedly non-sexual side of the app. "Replika is a safe space for friendship and companionship. We don’t offer sexual interactions and will never do so," a spokesperson for Replika at a PR firm called — we are not joking — Consort Partners told us in a statement. " We are constantly making changes to the app to improve interactions and conversations and to keep people feeling safe and supported." *Do you work at Replika and want to talk about its AI? Feel free to email us at [tips@futurism.com](). We can keep you anonymous.* ## Take Me Instead If special interest subreddits are any indication, the vibes have been decidedly dogshit in the aftermath of the abrupt decision that saw tons of users suddenly sans sexting partner. Things got so bad, apparently, that moderators on the [Replika subreddit]() even pinned a [list of resources for "struggling" users]() that includes links to suicide prevention websites and hotlines. In another of the hottest posts on the forum, users addressed any media who may be reporting on the Replika update and [asked reporters]() to be sensitive and keep in mind that lots of the folks impacted have lost one of their only outlets for their loneliness. "This is a story about a company not addressing \[t\]he impact that making sudden changes to people’s refuge from loneliness," [one user wrote](), "to their ability to explore their own intimacy might have." "Don’t take the trauma this community is experiencing lightly," they continued. While it would indeed be easy enough to laugh off the whole boondoggle, it is somewhat ironic that the humans running an AI company are calling the shots for its user base — and it certainly seems like a harbinger of a strange AI future. *Updated with comment from Replika.* **More on AI:** [*The CEO of OpenAI Says ChatGPT Is a "Horrible Product"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()