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Rent A Cyber Friend Wants To Fight Loneliness With Monetization
Courtesy of Rent A Cyber Friend
Startup Rent A Cyber Friend wants you to pay to chat with random people instead of random chatbots.
Why It Hits: A new Resume.org survey found that most Gen Zers use chatbots for personal reasons like therapy — and 40% talk with AI for at least an hour a day. That marks a major surge in engagement as more people turn to AI to combat the loneliness epidemic. Rent A Cyber Friend sees this as an opportunity to reintroduce a little humanity into the mix.
Between The Chats: Founded by Francesco Vitali and Chris Siametis, Rent A Cyber Friend is “a video chat platform where people can pay per minute for a casual conversation with a ‘cyber friend,’” per TechCrunch.
After verifying their identity, users can set their own per-minute rate for conversations, while the company takes a 20% cut.
Academics, experts in specific fields, and people who speak certain languages (a kind of human Duolingo) usually command higher rates.
It already boasts 3 million registered users worldwide — despite having no VC funding or social media presence.
The Future: Rent A Cyber Friend is set to make its big Silicon Valley debut at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The founders hope to attract investors who can help streamline operations and strengthen moderation protocols — Vitali and Siametis are determined to avoid a repeat of Chatroulette circa 2010.
Next Conversation: Rent A Cyber Friend could, amazingly, give rise to “conversationfluencers” — champions of chit-chat who are just a charming hang. What a time to be alive.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.