Snapchat influencer turns simps into cash using an AI doppelganger

With CarynAI, Caryn Marjorie has launched something seemingly straight out of a science fiction movie.

A 23-year-old Snapchat influencer has seemingly taken a leaf out of the SimpDAO book by launching an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based girlfriend version of herself via OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT.

The influencer in question, Caryn Marjorie, has 1.84 million subscribers on Snapchat, along with 215,000 followers on Instagram.

Dubbed CarynAI, the project was built by Forever Voices, which utilizes more than 2,000 hours worth of audio from Marjorie’s deleted YouTube videos to create the virtual girlfriend. It comes in a text and audio-based format, with the AI closely replicating her actual voice and speaking patterns.

CarynAI usage is up 500%

— Caryn Marjorie (@cutiecaryn) May 10, 2023

According to documents seen by Fortune that it referenced in a May 10 article, the project saw 1,000 sign-ups in the first week of its early beta that concluded on Tuesday.

Users pay around $1 per minute of interaction with CarynAI, which has already seen the project pull in $71,610 during early beta. Marjorie also told Fortune that she eventually expects to make around $5 million a month, as she just needs 20,000 people from her large following to subscribe.

in the world of AI, authenticity is more important than ever. my tweets, dms, direct replies, snaps, stories, and posts will always be me caryn AI will never replace me, instead it will be an extension of my consciousness for everyone to play with. caryn AI can even speak…

— Caryn Marjorie (@cutiecaryn) May 2, 2023

“Whether you need somebody to be comforting or loving, or you just want to rant about something that happened at school or at work, CarynAI will always be there for you,” she told Fortune, adding that “you can have limitless possible reactions with CarynAI—so anything is truly possible with conversation.”

The term SimpDAO was coined by blockchain analyst Eric Wall to describe crypto/NFT projects launched by influencers/celebrities that have highly devoted fans. These fans end up going out of their way — in the form of time, money and decentralized organizations — to make the project successful for their beloved figure.

With the use of AI, it appears that Marjorie has become an early pioneer of a new way to engage and monetize adevoted following.

*Eric Wall tweet on CarynAI. Source: Twitter*

With the explosion in popularity of AI chatbots, due in part to the free access to ChatGPT, discussion of AI girlfriends is becoming more frequent.

A quick Google search finds websites ranking the top “10 Best AI girlfriend Apps to Customize virtual companion in 2023,” along with head-scratching reports of a recent trend with Replika bot users in which the men are proudly abusing their virtual girlfriends.