social-ai
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Born wants your next friendship to start with a penguin
The makers of Pengu turned a virtual pet into a shared project for real friends. Now Born is testing how far that small idea can travel - into study habits, self-care and human-looking AI companions.
Cantina Wants Your Next Social Star to Be Imaginary
Sean Parker’s social app has traded the empty-room problem for a cast of AI characters. Now Cantina Labs wants those characters to talk, perform, and follow their creators onto the rest of the internet.
Character.AI Built a World of Talking Personas. Then the Model Race Cost More Than the Fantasy
The chatbot company found millions of people would spend an hour inside a made-up conversation. Then compute costs, a founder homecoming and a safety reckoning turned one clever app into a test of whether AI can become an entertainment medium.
Pasha Rayan Built the Serious Side of Campus. Now He Wants the Fun Part.
After Forage helped millions of students rehearse working life, its co-founder took an art-school detour. He returned with a stranger, more social question: what if AI helped people make things for one another?