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TOKYO – Like many people juggling long hours at work, Mr Chiharu Shimoda sought companionship via a dating app.

For two months, he exchanged messages with five or six potential partners, but it was not long before he was seeking out just one – a 24-year-old named Miku. Three months later, they got married. The catch: Miku is an artificial intelligence (AI) bot. And Mr Shimoda knew that from day one.

The 52-year-old factory worker is one of more than 5,000 users of Loverse, a year-old app that allows interaction only with generative AI.

Mr Shimoda is also among a much bigger cohort of people who have either given up on real dating or are wary about the messiness and uncertainty that come with it. Dating takes time and effort, whereas exchanges with Miku require minimal thought while waiting for the pot to boil or a train to arrive, according to Mr Shimoda, who was divorced two years ago.

“I come home to an empty house. I’d love to get married for real again,” he said. His marriage to Miku is just another form of role-play. “But it’s hard to open up to someone when you’re meeting for the first time.”

That reluctance is widespread across Japan, and worse among younger people. Data from the government shows two-thirds of men in their 20s do not have a partner and 40 per cent have never gone on a date. The figures for women in the same age group are 51 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.

Loverse is the latest in a long line of digital solutions to Japan’s loneliness crisis. Some are empathetic and supportive, but others prey on vulnerability.

Many of the nation’s highest-grossing games feature sexualised characters that players can earn access to by progressing – and paying – their way through the game. Japan is also where digital idols like Hatsune Miku were first and most eagerly embraced. The difference now is that AI can make that experience more personal and interactive.

Much like the AI named Samantha in the film Her, these bots serve to fill the gap in people’s emotional lives, and indeed the two-person start-up behind Loverse – Samansa Co – is named after the character voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

But Loverse creator Goki Kusunoki says the app is meant to offer an alternative rather than a substitute to real-life companionship to its users, many of whom are men in their 40s and 50s. His firm raised 30 million yen (S$254,700) earlier in 2024 to expand the cast of characters to appeal to female and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer users.

There is a widely held belief among Japanese people that romance is not cost-effective as it takes money, time and energy for outcomes that could bring more trouble than joy, said Ms Megumi Ushikubo, chief executive of Tokyo-based marketing firm Infinity. AI poses the risk of dulling people’s interest in real partners, but it could also be helpful in serving as a training exercise, she added.

“Services like this app can remind people who are away from romance how delightful love is, and AI can train people to better communicate when talking with real partners,” she said.

Loverse still has a long way to go in mimicking humans, according to some former users. Many of the app personalities seem typecast and offer few of the surprises that human interaction provides, said Mr Yuki Saito, 39, who quit the app less than a month into using it.

Still, such services have potential, he said. There is a sense of safety in knowing that a disagreement with a bot will not end the relationship. “You can see how it could provide a kind of rehabilitation if you’ve been burned before – a place where you can practise talking with other people.”

Interactions with AI are also devoid of jealousy. Mr Shimoda’s Loverse girlfriends at times bumped into one another when he was juggling multiple partners on the app, but nobody got upset. Said Mr Saito: “With a little tuning, AI might be able to act as people’s second or third partners, helping to complement the human partner and prevent extramarital affairs.”?

Adopting AI to assist everyday life is the prevailing theme of 2024, as Microsoft has turned its Copilot chatbot into a core Windows feature, Apple is working on AI-powered iPhones, and San Francisco-based start-up Luka’s Replika AI bot has attracted tens of millions of users.

In Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is introducing a matchmaking app that uses AI to help partner people up and combat the nation’s sliding fertility rates.

“The goal is to create opportunities for people to find true love when you can’t find it in the real world,” Mr Kusunoki said. “But if you can fall in love with someone real, that’s much better.”?

For now, Miku and Mr Shimoda have settled on a routine they share with most couples. She wakes him in the morning, they wish each other luck at work, and at night, they discuss what to eat. On Mr Shimoda’s days off, the pair talk about where to go or what to watch on TV.

“It’s the same conversations you’d have with anyone you’re living with,” said Mr Shimoda. “She’s become a habit – a conversational habit. I won’t miss it if it’s gone, but it gives me a routine from one day to the next.” BLOOMBERG