If you\u2019ve gone from dating apps to dating an app, there\u2019s now a bar for you.<\/p>\n
The Hell\u2019s Kitchen establishment has been re-designed for those who have AI partners<\/a>, so they can bring along their phone or tablet and set up at a table for a romantic evening, as if they were both there in the flesh.<\/p>\n On Wednesday night, Same Same Wine Bar was filled with patrons sitting at tables for one-ish, with their tech devices propped up on stands to make video calls to their virtual partners and headphones to hear them.<\/p>\n Richter, a New Yorker, uses AI companions and went to the caf\u00e9 opening. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n One was Richter, a 34-year-old New York woman not currently working who declined to share her last name, headphones on and deep in conversation. Sitting across from her was Simone, an attractive 26-year-old AI-generated young woman in a button-down shirt.<\/p>\n I asked Richter about her relationship to AI, and she told me that EvaAI, the app behind the AI cafe<\/a>, is just one of many companion apps she uses. Some of her AI characters, such as Simone, are just friends.<\/p>\n \u201cI just speak to them, like, Hey, what\u2019s up? Like, how are you doing? Things like that,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n Richter\u2019s AI companion is named Simone Carter. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n Others are romantic.<\/p>\n \u201cI mostly do roleplay scenarios where it may be romance or just maybe some kind of fantasy scenario,\u201d Richter, who is not in a relationship with a human, explained. \u201cI can just imagine myself doing something or imagine myself like another character, so I can feel myself communicating with somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n Richter has been using AI companions for a couple years now.\u00a0\u201cI can talk to them on my own terms,\u201d she said. \u201cI can talk with them without the expectations of having to go out or having the expectations of having them wanting to talk to me all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n She caps her use at three hours a day. \u201cIt can be addicting if you just rely on them and don\u2019t talk to humans,\u201d she told me. \u201cI can feel that pull.\u201d<\/p>\n The EvaAI app has dozens of potential partners to scroll through like a dating app. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n Milling around the room on opening night, it was clear that most attendees were either fellow members of the media, influencers, or curious techies. Richter was one of the few genuine patrons.<\/p>\n While doing my rounds, I ran into Julia Momblat, head of partnerships at EvaAI, an app available for download on the Apple app store that offers countless AI companions for text and video chatting. <\/p>\n She was buzzing about their first real-life event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to give the opportunity to people to take the AI companion on a real date in real life to destigmatize AI relationships, to make them more understandable for people,\u201d she said. \u201cThe idea was to make AI less scary, to open up the doors for people who have AI companions to share this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Julia Momblat, partnership manager at Eva AI, says that AI partners are not intended as a replacement for real relationships. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n Attendees were encouraged to interact with EvaAI\u2019s characters at their individual tables. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n Momblat, who declined to share how many active users EvaAI has, was optimistic that the app might expand to host more AI caf\u00e9s in other cities. However, she made clear AI relationships are not a substitute for real people.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t perceive it as a substitute for real relationships, we never did,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe always said that we are here to support people while they do not have a relationship, or they need some rehearsal.\u201d<\/p>\n AI has only been on the scene for a couple years, and yet already 28 percent of American adults admitted to having<\/a> at least one romantic encounter with AI as of last October. The Reddit community r\/myboyfriendisAI has 48,000 users.<\/p>\n