AI companion firm Replika partnered with the crew behind the AI courting simulator Blush to launch Tomo, a wellness and meditation app with an AI-generated avatar guiding customers. Its the sort of idea that appeared destined as quickly as generative AI took off, however within the time I’ve spent with Tomo, I discovered myself questioning if I can ever divulge heart’s contents to an AI like I can with an actual therapist.
Tomo, now usually obtainable on the Apple iOS retailer, brings customers to a digital island retreat, greeted by an AI-generated avatar information named… Tomo. Tomo presents packages to assist folks discover private development, psychological well-being, and success. It additionally gives guided meditation, yoga, affirmation courses, and, most of all, speak remedy.
Customers can check out Tomo totally free for 3 days, after which they’ve to decide on between paying $7.99 per week or $49.99 per 12 months.
I obtained to strive Tomo earlier than the launch. The primary time I launched the app, I used to be greeted by spa music, signaling that the app desires customers to really feel like they’re in a retreat slightly than a therapist’s workplace. Then the avatar Tomo, drawn as a younger lady standing in entrance of a standard Japanese home on an island, asks me if I’m prepared to start. Tomo began asking me some questions to determine what I hoped to work on.
“We worked with coaches and psychologists to come up with the programs for Tomo. We focused on the most common problems but also thought about what would work best with conversational AI,” Eugenia Kuyda, founder and CEO of Replika, tells The Verge in an e-mail. “We had a lot of experience building coaching programs for Replika with clinical psychologists from UC Berkeley; for Tomo, we expanded that to mindfulness teachers to combine Eastern and Western practices.”
The strategy felt like texting a therapist on text-based remedy companies like BetterHelp. I already go to in-person remedy, so the expertise of sharing extra about myself was not new. But I’ve by no means been a textual content remedy fan; I desire stream-of-consciousness dialog to typing out my anxieties. However for the sake of a hands-on, I saved texting with Tomo. It started constructing a profile primarily based on my solutions. My profile exhibits I prefer to deal with work, have cash anxieties, and need assistance dealing with stress; in different phrases, a journalist present in late-stage capitalism. Tomo summarized our dialog, nevertheless it did mistakenly assume I had a “determination to pursue pottery” when actually I’m simply interested in it as a doable stress reliever.
After the preliminary dialog, customers can discover different actions or “areas” of the island. There was no digital pottery for me to apparently pursue; as a substitute, the packages Tomo presents vary from mastering the artwork of work-life stability, driving motivation, and enhancing sleep, which comes within the type of modules that customers can end in anyplace from two weeks to a month. Ultimately, the builders mentioned, folks can unlock 3D objects across the island “that facilitate a deeper exploration of their inner sanctuary.”
Tomo, the avatar information, is meant to be powered by generative AI to have higher conversations with customers. However truthfully, speaking to Tomo didn’t really feel a lot completely different from talking with a daily chatbot. I couldn’t get it to take part in a bit of artwork remedy with me (it wouldn’t draw) or retail remedy (it couldn’t assist with purchasing or journey duties I attempted to assign it) — which meant that as a substitute of feeling like a completely shaped digital being on which I might unload my troubles, it actually simply felt like somebody put background music on ChatGPT.
And whereas I discovered the guided meditations useful, it additionally felt like different guided meditation apps I’ve tried earlier than. Ultimately I discovered myself dropping curiosity, primarily as a result of by the point I remembered to open Tomo, I already had assignments from my therapist to work on.
Utilizing AI for psychological well being remedy stays controversial, particularly as privateness protections nonetheless fall quick for a lot of technology-based psychological well being options. It’s a tough enterprise, one for which Replika, which is behind Tomo’s digital avatar, has already gotten into sizzling water. Italy banned Replika final 12 months for failing to satisfy safety requirements in its Replika chat app. However Replika’s CEO says it’s taking extra precautions with Tomo, although the corporate didn’t give me its full privateness coverage.
“We don’t share any information with any third parties and rely on a subscription business model. What users tell Tomo stays private between them and their coach,” Kuyda mentioned.
Tomo is barely obtainable on iPhones; an Android model might be launched later this 12 months. Replika additionally plans to launch an app on Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional, paving the best way for an much more immersive Tomo-guided meditation.