Launched for the general public in 2017, Replika and other chatbots like it are now a source of companionship and romance for a growing number of people. This is more or less the exact premise of Be Right Back, an episode of Charlie Brooker’s dystopian serie s which aired in 2013, and Kuyda herself has acknowledged it as a source of inspiration. In an effort to process her grief, she poured through their digital messages, solicited data from fellow acquaintances, and eventually succeeded in creating a digital version of her late friend. Eugenia Kuyda, Replika’s co-founder, was inspired to create the software after a close friend was killed in a car accident. Whenever a sinister new technology emerges, the most cliched thing you can say in response is “this is just like Black Mirror !” But when it comes to Replika, a new AI chatbox which exploded in popularity during the lonely days of lockdown, there’s no getting around it.
