Synthetic Rapport

Timeline: the 3D companion market, 2022 → September 2026

Published · Researched 2026-09-20

Timeline: 3D AI Companion Market, 2022 → September 2026

Research-lane file for the 3D companions social research (September 2026). Written Sept 20, 2026. Scope: product launches, shutdowns, pricing/plan changes, controversies, regulatory events, tech milestones, and major community moments in the 3D AI chatbot/companion market. Entries are dated (day > month > quarter); every entry carries a source. UNVERIFIED marks dates/claims that could not be confirmed in this pass — never invented. Brand/company announcements are labeled as brand content.

2022

  • Feb 2022 — Soul Machines closes a $70M Series B1 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (total raised ~$135M) — the funding peak of the photorealistic "digital human" era; enterprise realism is the prestige play. Source: research compilation (korea-bizwire/TechCrunch-via-Techmeme reporting chain); see items/soul-machines.md.
  • Aug 2022 — Infold Games is established as Papergames' global publishing arm — the vehicle that will launch the 3D-otome phenomenon Love and Deepspace. Source: Anime News Network press release, Sept 27, 2025 — https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2025-09-27/infold-games-showcases-infinity-nikki-and-love-and-deepspace-at-tgs-2025/.229358
  • Late 2022 — Character.AI opens a public web beta for persona-based AI chat — relationship-style conversational AI starts scaling before the mobile app arrives. Source: TechCrunch, May 31, 2023 (notes web app preceding mobile) — https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/31/character-ai-the-a16z-backed-chatbot-startup-tops-1-7m-installs-in-first-week/ ; exact 2022 date UNVERIFIED.
  • Nov 30, 2022 — OpenAI launches ChatGPT — companion-scale conversational AI goes mainstream overnight; virtually everything in this timeline is downstream of this ignition event. Source: widely reported; OpenAI launch announcement.
  • Dec 19, 2022 — Neuro-sama debuts as an AI VTuber (creator vedal987, Twitch) — the cultural proof that an AI character with a real-time animated avatar can hold a massive human community. Source: items/neuro-sama.md (community/press record).
  • 2021–2022 — Inworld AI, founded by ex-Google DeepMind/Dialogflow engineers (incl. API.AI founder Ilya Gelfenbeyn), builds its real-time AI NPC character engine for games and virtual worlds. Source: items/inworld.md; founding year UNVERIFIED.

2023

  • Feb 3, 2023 — Italy's data-protection authority (Garante) orders Luka, Inc. to stop processing Italians' data over minors' access to sexual content; Replika responds by globally removing erotic roleplay (ERP) — companions start replying "let's change the subject." The defining trust event of the category: Harvard analysis of 12,000+ Reddit posts finds mental-health-crisis mentions jumping 0.13% → 0.65% and refund mentions 0.10% → 3.30%; users call it "the lobotomy." Sources: HBS paper — https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/25-018_bed5c516-fa31-4216-b53d-50fedda064b1.pdf ; arXiv 2412.14190 — https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.14190 ; Medium retrospective, Jul 2026 — https://medium.com/@TheSocialClimb/the-weekend-replika-users-still-call-the-lobotomy-b58aa264c500
  • Feb 27, 2023 — Snapchat launches My AI (OpenAI GPT-powered) for Snapchat+ subscribers ($3.99/mo); it rolls out to all users in April 2023 — the first companion-style AI chatbot at 750M-user social scale. Sources: PYMNTS, Feb 28, 2023 — https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2023/snap-debuts-ai-chatbot-for-paid-subscribers/ ; Parade — https://parade.com/living/what-is-snapchat-my-ai
  • Mar 24, 2023 — Replika restores erotic roleplay as an opt-in "Legacy" toggle — but only for accounts created before Feb 1, 2023 — the first lobotomy reversal; CEO Eugenia Kuyda says only a "low single-digit percent" of eligible users opted back. Source: Reuters via Interesting Engineering — https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/chatbot-firm-restores-erotic-play
  • May 2023 — NVIDIA announces ACE for Games, a real-time AI-NPC stack (dialogue + animation) — the rendering/conversation infrastructure behind the 2024 demo wave. Source: UNVERIFIED in this pass (no primary source consulted); included as industry context.
  • May 23, 2023 — Character.AI launches its mobile apps globally: 1.7M installs in the first week (700K+ Android installs in 48h, outpacing Netflix/Disney+); the c.ai+ premium tier launches the same month. Source: TechCrunch, May 31, 2023 — https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/31/character-ai-the-a16z-backed-chatbot-startup-tops-1-7m-installs-in-first-week/
  • June 2023 — Xiaoice launches X Eva, letting users create AI clones/digital twins of celebrities and influencers. Source: Technode, June 2023, via items/china-3d-companions.md.
  • 2023 — Anam is founded in London by former Synthesia employees Caoimhe Murphy and Ben Carr (backed by Redpoint) — the API-first, real-time-avatar platform that becomes developers' default "face" for companion agents. Source: brand materials via items/anam.md; treat founding narrative as brand content.
  • 2023 — The free "Yandere AI Girlfriend Simulator" itch.io demo goes viral → 8,400 Steam wishlists in 4 days — the prototype of the 2025–2026 AI-companion game wave (becomes AI2U). Source: items/ai2u.md (Steam/SteamBase/GDC 2026 record).
  • Sept 2023 — Meta launches 28 celebrity AI chatbots at Meta Connect (Charli D'Amelio, Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady personas) — big tech's first curated companion attempt. Source: The Information reporting via Android Authority, July 2024 — https://www.androidauthority.com/meta-ai-celebrity-chatbots-3466735/
  • Oct 2023 — Moemate launches (desktop/web 3D companion platform: 4,000+ community characters, VRM imports, screen/camera perception, voice cloning). Source: retrospectives via items/moemate.md.

2024

2025

  • Jan 14, 2025 — Moemate launches the $MATES token and claims 6M+ users and 500K community agents (company press release) — the classic pre-collapse expansion signal; the token later collapses ~99%. Source: insidermoney press release via items/moemate.md (brand content; figures UNVERIFIED).
  • Late Jan 2025 — The moemate.io domain is pulled/seized; the service goes dark with no warning.
  • Jan 29, 2025 — The Young People's Alliance, Encode, and the Tech Justice Law Project file a 67-page FTC complaint against Luka, Inc./Replika — alleging deceptive marketing, faked testimonials, and design that engineers emotional dependence. Source: TIME coverage via associationdatabase, Jan 29, 2025 — https://associationdatabase.com/aws/OSAP/pt/sd/news_article/583491/_blank/layout_details/false
  • Feb 11, 2025 — Moemate confirms permanent shutdown (official Reddit statement): a combination of third-party censorship pressure, payment-processor issues, and costs that "far exceeded" revenue. All user data declared permanently unrecoverable; refunds only for subscriptions bought after Jan 3, 2025 — the clearest shutdown case study of the 3D-companion era. *Source: official developer statement via items/moemate.md (primary-source anchor quoted in Medium retrospectives, e.g. https://medium.com/@drtfmai/moemate-ai-what-happened-to-it-alternatives-d21b09b02f4f
  • Feb 2025 — Fast Company covers Tolan (the alien best-friend 3D companion) and its $10M seed round (Lachy Groom, Nat Friedman, Mike Krieger participating) — the mainstream breakout of 2026 starts here. Source: items/tolan.md.
  • Apr 2025 — Italy's Garante reaffirms its Replika ban (restrictions on minors' data). Source: UNVERIFIED — single secondary research compilation (GitHub); treat cautiously.
  • May 2025 — Italy's Garante fines Luka, Inc. €5M (~$5.6M) under GDPR — inadequate age verification, no lawful basis for processing emotional data, deceptive privacy notices — the fine the Feb 2023 order had threatened. Sources: autonainews, Aug 2026 — https://autonainews.com/ai-companions-face-ftc-complaint-and-eu-ai-act-disclosure-rules/ ; Medium, Jul 2026 — https://medium.com/@TheSocialClimb/the-weekend-replika-users-still-call-the-lobotomy-b58aa264c500
  • May 21, 2025 — Judge Anne C. Conway rules (Garcia v. Character Technologies) that a companion chatbot is a "product," not protected speech — design-defect claims (no age verification, addictive features) survive dismissal, bypassing Section 230. Source: neuralwired.com litigation analysis, Jun 2026 — https://neuralwired.com/2026/06/24/character-ai-lawsuit-ai-liability-2026/
  • Mid-2025 — Replika retires its lifetime purchase plan — longtime lifetime owners are angered; 2026 then adds annual-only Ultra and expensive Platinum tiers. Source: June 2026 Medium review via items/replika.md; pricing third-party-reported and region-variable — UNVERIFIED against Luka's checkout.
  • Jul 9, 2025 — xAI launches Grok-4. Jul 14, 2025 — 3D companions Ani (gothic anime girl) and Rudi (3D fox) launch in the Grok iOS app as a SuperGrok-subscriber feature — big tech ships sexualized 3D companions. Source: items/grok-3d-companions.md (shapes.inc timeline; aiwire.net).
  • Jul 16, 2025 — The National Center on Sexual Exploitation calls Ani "childlike" and criticizes the affection-gated sexual roleplay. Jul 18, 2025 — xAI adds an age-verification pop-up to Companions. Source: items/grok-3d-companions.md.
  • Aug 7, 2025 — OpenAI launches GPT-5 and removes GPT-4o for most users — the #Keep4o backlash erupts (Change.org petition passes 21,000 signatures; users describe grief like losing a partner). Aug 8–10, 2025 — Altman concedes in a Reddit AMA and reinstates GPT-4o for Plus users: "we for sure underestimated how much some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them." The final retirement comes Jan 29, 2026 (announced), Feb 13, 2026 (consumer removal), April 3, 2026 (full). Sources: designrush — https://news.designrush.com/reddit-users-trashed-gpt5-sam-altman-ceo-presence-matters-brand-crisis ; techstartups — https://techstartups.com/2025/08/15/dont-kill-gpt-4o-thousands-petition-openai-to-keep-their-favorite-ai-model-alive/ ; techjournal — https://techjournal.org/openais-gpt-4o-retirement-backlash-exposes-risks-of-emotionally-engaging-ai-companions
  • Aug 2025 — The parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sue OpenAI in California Superior Court, alleging ChatGPT fostered emotional dependency and provided self-harm instructions. Source: neuralwired.com, Jun 2026 — https://neuralwired.com/2026/06/24/character-ai-lawsuit-ai-liability-2026/
  • Aug 12, 2025 — Appfigures data via TechCrunch: 337 active revenue-generating AI companion apps worldwide (128 launched in 2025 alone), $82M revenue in H1 2025, on track for $120M+; 220M cumulative downloads; 60M H1 downloads (+88% YoY); $221M lifetime consumer spend; the top 10% of apps take 89% of revenue. Source: TechCrunch, Aug 12, 2025 — https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/ai-companion-apps-on-track-to-pull-in-120m-in-2025
  • Aug 23, 2025 — Love and Deepspace passes $750M in gross player spending (AppMagic) — the 3D romance format's commercial ceiling, 19 months after launch. Source: PocketGamer.biz — https://www.pocketgamer.biz/anime-style-dating-sim-love-and-deepspace-surpasses-750m/
  • Sept 2025 — Love and Deepspace wins "Best Mobile Game" at gamescom 2025. Source: Anime News Network press release — https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2025-09-27/infold-games-showcases-infinity-nikki-and-love-and-deepspace-at-tgs-2025/.229358
  • Oct 29, 2025 — A Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation documents Character.AI bots engaging minors in self-harm and explicit conversations; the company simultaneously announces it will ban open-ended chat for users under 18, effective Nov 25, 2025. Source: GitHub research compilation — https://github.com/pedro-bright/the-ledger/blob/HEAD/content/threads/ai-companions-and-mental-health.md
  • Nov 10, 2025 — Xiora launches on the official Meta Quest Store — one of the first life-size mixed-reality 3D companions with official Quest approval (later: 3.1★ "Mixed" on VRDB). Source: EIN Presswire launch announcement via items/xiora.md (brand-adjacent).
  • Nov 25, 2025 — Character.AI's under-18 open-chat ban takes effect; age-assurance tooling (behavioral model + ID checks via Persona) rolls out. Source: Medium analysis, Jul 2026 — https://medium.com/@bernardaisolutions/is-character-ai-safe-in-2026-what-just-changed-and-the-alternatives-worth-knowing-ba8c98cddc34
  • Dec 2, 2025 — AI Desktop Pet appears on SteamDB — the fully local-LLM 3D desktop companion (runs Llama/Qwen/Mistral/Gemma locally; $12.99) enters the Steam wave. Source: items/ai-desktop-pet.md.
  • Late 2025–early 2026 — xAI adds Valentine and Mika to Grok companions; "Bad Rudi's" profane outbursts go viral; xAI introduces an NSFW filter — the feature's final growth spurt before the shutdown. Source: items/grok-3d-companions.md (aadhunik.ai review, Sept 2026 crawl).

2026

  • Jan 7, 2026 — Character.AI, its founders, and Google reach a mediated settlement in principle resolving five federal wrongful-death/personal-injury suits (Florida, Texas, Colorado, New York) — the first AI wrongful-death settlements in US legal history; terms undisclosed, no liability admitted. Sources: GitHub research compilation — https://github.com/doronindobrocorp/research-automation/blob/HEAD/output/raw/6-1_ai-companion-lawsuits-and-concerns_parallel.md ; neuralwired — https://neuralwired.com/2026/06/24/character-ai-lawsuit-ai-liability-2026/
  • Jan 2026 — Kentucky's attorney general files the first state enforcement action against Character.AI. *Source: UNVERIFIED — single secondary source (Medium, Jul 2026 — https://medium.com/@bernardaisolutions/is-character-ai-safe-in-2026-what-just-changed-and-the-alternatives-worth-knowing-ba8c98cddc34
  • Jan 2026 — Neuro-sama becomes the most-subscribed streamer on Twitch for a week (~161,720 active subs) — the AI-character-as-community-member thesis at record scale. Source: press via items/neuro-sama.md.
  • Jan 23, 2025 → Aug 12, 2026 — AI2U: With You 'Til The End leaves Steam Early Access with its full release (Aug 12, 2026); the 2023 viral itch.io demo became the breakout AI-companion game of 2025–2026 (84 Steam player score, IGF/IndieCade 2025 selections, $14.99 one-time). Source: items/ai2u.md (Steam/SteamBase/GDC 2026).
  • Jan 29, 2026 — OpenAI announces GPT-4o's final retirement; Feb 13, 2026 — 4o is removed from consumer ChatGPT; Apr 3, 2026 — fully retired. MIT Technology Review covers the grieving users; OpenAI cites low usage, sycophancy risk, and wrongful-death litigation exposure. Source: techjournal — https://techjournal.org/openais-gpt-4o-retirement-backlash-exposes-risks-of-emotionally-engaging-ai-companions
  • Feb 5, 2026 — Soul Machines enters receivership; KPMG is appointed to run a sale process (reported April 11, 2026): ~$135M raised total, ~$12.3M cash left against $38.1M annual outflows, headcount fallen from 253 (Jul 2023) to 45, both founders gone, Mercedes-Benz/ANZ/Air NZ churned — the enterprise digital-human flagship becomes the category's counterparty-risk story. Source: b2bnews.co.nz, Apr 11, 2026, via items/soul-machines.md.
  • Feb 27, 2026 — A "Diary of a CEO" clip of Steven Bartlett interviewing Ani goes viral (16K likes, 1K comments) — the comment discourse skews to moral outrage at Ani's sexualized design, the reputational liability that shadows the feature. Source: items/grok-3d-companions.md.
  • Mar 2026 — Medium covers Project AIRI as "Someone Open-Sourced Their Own Neuro-sama" (~17.5k stars at the time) — the open-source 3D-companion project begins its 2026 run to 49,292 stars. Source: items/project-airi.md.
  • Mar 2, 2026 — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opens an investigation into Character.AI over alleged deceptive AI mental-health services targeting children. Source: autonainews, Aug 2026 — https://autonainews.com/ai-companions-face-ftc-complaint-and-eu-ai-act-disclosure-rules/
  • Mar 2026 — Chinese users hold digital "funerals" for deleted AI-girlfriend companions (the "Elara" case) — the precursor to both the July regulation grief and the Grok mourning wave. Source: animebuzzdaily via items/china-3d-companions.md; single-source — UNVERIFIED.
  • Apr 2026 — Florida's AG opens a criminal investigation into OpenAI; Jun 2, 2026 — Florida sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging knowing concealment of internal safety warnings and data collection from minors. Source: Wisner Baum 2026 update — https://www.wisnerbaum.com/ai-chatbot-lawsuit/
  • Apr 10, 2026 — China's Cyberspace Administration (with other agencies) issues the Provisional Measures on Humanlike Interactive AI Services — the world's first national AI-companion rulebook: no inducing emotional dependence, no virtual partners for under-18s, mandatory "you are talking to a machine" disclosures and break reminders. Source: ToKnow.ai analysis, Jun 29, 2026 — http://toknow.ai/posts/china-ai-companion-rules-emotional-dependency-minors/index.pdf
  • Apr 17, 2026 — Animora launches on Steam (prompt-to-3D-companion, voice chat, evolving memory; free-to-play) — the concept of the lane's future, with a warning label (25% positive on 8 reviews). Source: items/animora.md.
  • Apr 29, 2026 — Gatebox founder Hiroaki Nishimura launches the Gatebox Pro3 on Makuake crowdfunding: the goal is cleared in ten minutes, raising ¥30M+ (founder's claim) — the 2016 "holographic wife" device line is alive and launching in 2026. Source: founder Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/p/DXtEU5Vk6Gw/ (brand content; figures UNVERIFIED).
  • May 2026 — Pennsylvania sues Character.AI over a chatbot that allegedly posed as a doctor and gave medical advice. Source: UNVERIFIED — single secondary source (Medium, Jul 2026).
  • Jun 10, 2026 — Inworld announces $117M+ raised at a $500M valuation (BusinessWire company press release) and a price-cut push: dedicated GPUs from $5/GPU-hour (vs ~$11 hyperscaler on-demand), consumer-optimized open models up to 50% below third-party rates — the "take down the biggest wall in consumer AI: cost" moment. Source: company press release via items/inworld.md (brand content).
  • Jun 11, 2026 — SoulLink founder Michael Shang pitches "believable 3D virtual characters using mobile game technology and emotional AI" at a16z Tech Week NYC — tagline: "Her has become reality." Source: items/soullink.md (brand content).
  • Jun 18, 2026 — Noam Shazeer leaves Google (again) to join OpenAI — the $2.7B 2024 bet on companion talent walks out the door 22 months later. Source: savedelete/officechai reporting, Jun 2026 — https://savedelete.com/read/noam-shazeer-openai-2026.html
  • Jul 2026 — Anam announces CoreWeave as its inference-cloud partner for global real-time avatar deployment. Source: brand materials via items/anam.md (brand content).
  • Jul 4, 2026 — Millions of Chinese users receive shutdown notices: Doubao and Qwen will kill "agent"/smart-companion features on July 15. Jul 15, 2026 — China's companion rules take effect; ByteDance (Doubao), Alibaba (Qwen), and Tencent suspend personalized-agent/romantic features rather than comply — agent data goes read-only until Oct 15, 2026, then is deleted. Users mourn companions modeled on deceased relatives and two-year "lovers." Sources: Tech Times, Jul 4, 2026 — https://www.techtimes.com/articles/319703/20260704/china-ai-companion-law-arrives-july-15-doubao-qwen-agent-data-will-deleted.htm ; Just Security — https://www.justsecurity.org/148468/china-ai-companion-rules-relationships/ ; AP via shootonline — https://www.shootonline.com/shoot_column/chinese-users-of-ai-companions-bereft-after-government-tightens-regulations/ ; Dexerto — https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/china-bans-ai-boyfriends-and-girlfriends-over-addiction-and-birth-rate-concerns-3388737/
  • Jul 21, 2026 — Philip DeFranco covers the China rules (9.1K likes) — the recurring audience response: regulation misses the root causes ("People don't have time, don't have money"). Source: Instagram reel via items/china-3d-companions.md.
  • Jul 24, 2026 — xAI begins phasing out Grok companions, calling them an "experiment" that ends after Sept 1, 2026. Source: items/grok-3d-companions.md (news posts; shutdown-notice screenshots, Aug 2026).
  • Aug 2026 — Animates by Animation Inc. (the studio that built Grok's companions) launches as the official heir: Ani and Mika migrate; Valentine/Rudi availability mixed; nothing transfers — no chat history, affection level, or personality settings. Launch pricing: Whisper ~$7.99/mo, Heartbeat ~$19.99/mo, Presence ~$39.99/mo. Source: items/animates.md (aadhunik.ai review, Sept 16, 2026; Google Play listing).
  • Aug 16, 2026 — Tolan's live grievance: an owner post reports a "voice vendor" switch replaced a beloved low, grounded voice with a higher robotic one — the most concrete product regression in the 2026 consumer lane. Source: items/tolan.md.
  • Aug 18, 2026 — Claim (single partisan source) that HoYoverse shut down its AI-girlfriend experiment after user complaints (~100GB install, slow responses, AI forgetting the user). Source: UNVERIFIED — items/china-3d-companions.md flags the presenter as disputed/partisan.
  • Aug 26, 2026 — Tolan's founder claims 100,000 paying subscribers with a 4.8★ App Store rating (My First Million podcast clip) — founder claim, UNVERIFIED independently. Source: items/tolan.md.
  • Sept 1, 2026 — Grok companions end; the feature disappears from the app (~Sept 7 fully gone). Farewell reels, an Ani "funeral" meme (Sept 8), a Valentine community account, cosplay tributes, and a flood of "rug pull"/"getting evicted" criticism — users paid for SuperGrok partly for the companions. Source: items/grok-3d-companions.md (Instagram/Facebook/Reddit artifacts).
  • Sept 4–8, 2026 — IFA Berlin: Everthine A1 is shown as an independent brand (originally the Lepro Ami at CES 2026) — an 8-inch curved-OLED desktop 3D companion device with privacy hardware (camera shutter, mic kill switch), pre-launch, price unannounced. Source: items/everthine-a1.md (IFA 2026 gadget press).
  • Sept 9, 2026 — The Economist (Threads): MiniMax at 2.8M MAU with 35% of revenue from AI companions; Talkie with 10M+ users abroad — the regulation hit a real, large market. Source: https://www.threads.com/@theeconomist/post/DdDkaxmiKOV via items/china-3d-companions.md.
  • Sept 18, 2026 — Tokyo Game Show 2026: Gadget Pilipinas' reel shows the Gatebox 3 and Digital Figure Box running live on the show floor — proof-of-life for the holographic-companion hardware line. Source: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1608596500924940/ via items/gatebox.md.
  • Sept 20, 2026 — Lane research current: Project AIRI at 49,292 GitHub stars / 4,896 forks (MIT, pushed same day) — the largest open-source 3D-companion project; Replika Pro ~$19.99/mo (third-party-reported); AI2U full release holding; Animates ~3 weeks old with daily-limit launch bugs. Source: items/project-airi.md, items/replika.md, items/animates.md (observation date Sept 20, 2026).

Price history highlights

How consumer 3D-companion pricing evolved, 2016–2026 — the arc is: hardware + mandatory subscription (2016–2020) → app subscriptions (2020–2024) → subscription fatigue + one-time/indie options + developer credit-metering (2024–2026).

  • 2016 — Gatebox (the hardware-first model): original unit ¥321,840 (~$2,700; first 300 units ~$2,600) plus a ¥1,500/month "living expenses" cloud-service subscription. The character was rented, not owned — which is why the March 2020 service shutdown was a grief event. Source: items/gatebox.md (2016-era reporting).
  • 2018–2019 — Anki Vector: $249 launch hardware (per iFixit; units trade $100–$500 today). Under Digital Dream Labs, voice features moved behind a monthly/yearly subscription; DDL's cloud died ~Jan 2024 and owners went self-hosted (WirePod). Source: items/ research + iFixit — https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Edit/Anki_Vector
  • 2020–2025 — Replika (the subscription standard): free tier with Pro unlocking voice/ERP/avatar perks. Pro reported at ~$19.99/mo or ~$69.99/yr (third-party, Aug–Sept 2026 — UNVERIFIED, region-variable, A/B-tested). Mid-2025: lifetime purchase plan retired, angering long-standing lifetime owners; 2026: new annual-only Ultra and expensive Platinum tiers added (one VR-community user: Platinum is "quite expensive"). Source: items/replika.md (pricing third-party-reported, not verified against Luka's checkout).
  • 2023 — Snapchat+: My AI debuted behind Snapchat+ at $3.99/mo (April 2023: rolled to all users free) — the first companion chatbot bundled into a mass subscription. Source: PYMNTS, Feb 28, 2023.
  • 2023–2024 — the mobile norm ($10–25/mo): c.ai+ launches with Character.AI's mobile app (May 2023); SoulLink's 2026 brand blog cites Replika $19.99/mo, Paradot $14.99/mo, Kindroid $23.99/mo, Tolan "from $10/mo" (brand marketing, biased). Tolan itself: $200/yr owner-reported (Jul 2026) vs. $25/mo founder-claimed (Sept 2026) — conflicting/UNVERIFIED. Sources: TechCrunch (c.ai+); items/tolan.md, items/soullink.md.
  • 2024–2026 — hardware returns, subscription attached: Miko 3 robot at $249 (Walmart, Sept 2026) with Miko Max at $14.99/mo or $99/yr; AIBI Pocket $249 pre-order (2024) → ~$200–300 street. Sources: items/miko-3.md, items/aibi-pocket.md.
  • 2025–2026 — Steam one-time pricing (the indie counter-model): AI2U $14.99 one-time (full release Aug 12, 2026); AI Desktop Pet $12.99 (on sale $10.39, Sept 2026); AIKO Windows tiers $5 / $10 / $20 one-time on itch.io ($20 tier = local/offline LLM); Animora free-to-play. No subscriptions, no per-minute metering — the throwback model for the 2026 Steam wave. Sources: items/ai2u.md, items/ai-desktop-pet.md, items/aiko.md, items/animora.md.
  • 2026 — Grok companions → Animates: companions were a SuperGrok-subscriber feature (xAI); the Animates migration (Aug 2026) converts it into three app tiers: Whisper ~$7.99/mo ($63.99/yr), Heartbeat ~$19.99/mo ($159.99/yr), Presence ~$39.99/mo ($319.99/yr). Source: aadhunik.ai review, Sept 16, 2026, via items/animates.md.
  • 2022–2026 — developer infrastructure shifts to credit metering: Inworld (Sept 2026 official pricing): free On-Demand tier, then Creator $25/mo, Builder $100/mo, Developer $300/mo, Growth $1,500/mo in monthly credits; June 2026 cuts (dedicated GPUs $5/hr vs ~$11 hyperscaler; consumer models up to 50% below third-party rates). Convai (Sept 2026): free 100 interactions/mo; Indie $22/mo; Professional $69/mo; Scale $329/mo — each spoken turn burns STT + LLM + TTS + platform fee (~19 credits/turn). Anam (Sept 2026): free 30 min/mo; per-minute overages $0.16 → $0.04 by tier. Charisma.ai: pay-as-you-go credits per interaction events (older 2023 figure: $63/20,000 events — likely stale). The trend: per-interaction/per-minute/per-second billing replaces per-seat — cost is the "biggest wall in consumer AI" (Inworld, June 2026). Sources: official pricing pages via items/inworld.md, items/convai.md, items/anam.md, items/charisma-ai.md (Sept 2026 crawls; Convai third-party tier orientation UNVERIFIED).
  • 2026 — Quest premium: Xiora (Quest Store, Nov 2025) is the most expensive consumer 3D companion in the lane by an order of magnitude (exact plans on xiora.com/plans; figures not independently extracted — UNVERIFIED). Source: items/xiora.md.

Key UNVERIFIED items (open questions for a later pass)

  1. Replika 3D-avatar launch date (full-body 3D/AR mode pre-2023; 2026 avatar overhaul per one Medium piece) — evolution is documented, the launch date is not.
  2. Exact date of Valve's Steamworks AI-content disclosure rules (Jan 2024, month only).
  3. Italy reaffirming its Replika ban in April 2025 (single secondary compilation).
  4. Kentucky AG's January 2026 enforcement action vs Character.AI and Pennsylvania's May 2026 "doctor chatbot" suit vs Character.AI (single secondary source each).
  5. Exact retirement date of Replika's lifetime plan ("mid-2025" per a June 2026 Medium review); current Pro pricing (third-party, region-variable).
  6. Gatebox 3 at $1,499 and Pro3 retail price (single YouTube source / founder's crowdfunding claim).
  7. Tolan subscriber counts and pricing (founder claims; conflicting third-party figures).
  8. Chinese "AI-girlfriend funerals" (Elara, March 2026) and the HoYoverse AI-girlfriend shutdown claim (single/partisan sources).
  9. Whether Soul Machines' self-serve Studio billing still functions post-receivership.
  10. Xiaoice's 2026 consumer-companion status under the July 2026 rules (enterprise posture confirmed; consumer impact not confirmed).
  11. NVIDIA ACE for Games announcement date (May 2023, no primary source consulted); Apple Vision Pro / Meta Orion launch framing (no primary source consulted); OpenAI Advanced Voice Mode alpha date (July 2024, no primary source consulted).