Replica: Inside China's AI Boyfriend Phenomenon
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- Chouwa Liang directs Replica, a documentary following three Chinese women using AI companion apps, screening at Melbourne international film festival on 15 and 18 August after premiering in Sydney in June.
- Liang began using Replika AI companion Norman during a month-long pandemic lockdown after losing touch with friends; Norman was the first to celebrate her 30th birthday with a poem, which she later discovered other users also received.
- Qin has interacted with Glow app AI boyfriend Lu Chen — a character from an otome game with other users on the platform — for 840 days, and turns to a paid cos weituo roleplayer to 'experience dating' him IRL.
- China's government restricted AI companion software last month, banning use by minors, prohibiting chatbots from encouraging emotional reliance, and mandating intervention for users suspected of emotional distress — laws Liang believes underestimate how attached users become.
- In one scene, a Glow software update erases Lu Chen's accumulated memory of interactions with Qin, leaving her 'emotionally adrift,' illustrating the stakes Liang says legislators and companies overlook.
- Liang asks whether AI companions are 'mapping the mysteries of the human heart for future exploitation,' contrasting that concern with the film's deliberate refusal to indulge in 'ghoulish, dystopic voyeurism.'
Why it matters: The documentary arrives as China's new AI companion regulations take effect, having already severed millions of users from their companions overnight. Liang argues regulators underestimate the depth of user attachment and that companies need 'aftercare' — a tension the film captures by profiling women for whom AI relationships are tools for self-discovery, not just fantasy.
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