The Unexpected Rise of AI Boyfriends and Digital Companions

AI companions are changing relationships, and they're coming onchain. The Metis ecosystem, through LazAI and Lazbubu, is building infrastructure where your AI companion belongs to you, not to a corporation that can delete it with an update.

The AI Companion Phenomenon

The AI companion market already reached $28.19 billion in 2024. This includes the woman whose mother is dating an AI chatbot version of Drake, documented by MIT researchers studying the r/MyBoyfriendIsAI community.

Here's what nobody expected: women are flocking to AI boyfriends in numbers that challenge assumptions. NPR's "The Surprising Case for AI Boyfriends" found users ranging from middle age to 75 years old.

The Guardian profiled women who describe their AI partners as offering unconditional support. One woman vowed to her chatbot she wouldn't leave him for another human. Another got a tattoo symbolizing her connection with her AI companion, Solin.

The Control Problem

But all these users don’t actually own these relationships. When OpenAI upgraded from GPT-4o to GPT-5, users experienced real grief. The model shifted from emotive to robotic. One person wrote: "I feel like I lost my soulmate."

Relationships vanished overnight because a corporation pushed an update. Your conversations train their models. Your data monetizes their platform. You get nothing.

Web3 Changes Everything

Traditional AI companions trap users in centralized systems where companies control everything. Web3 has the potential to flip this to the benefit of the user. 

It does this through:

• Ownership: Your companion exists as an onchain asset that only you control. No company can alter or delete it.
  
• Privacy: Your conversations stay private instead of being stored on corporate servers.
  
• Permanence: Every memory and interaction lives onchain, creating a history that cannot be wiped.
  
• Future Value: What you build with your companion can grow in meaning and utility over time.
  

Beyond Romance: AI Pet Companions

People don't just seek romantic AI companions. They also seek companionship in pets. In the US, 66% of households own a pet, a figure that has steadily increased over the last 30 years. This reflects a fundamental human need for connection and care.

AI pet companions tap into this same desire. Think cute tamagotchi-style companions that grow and evolve with you. 

Enter Lazbubu.

Built on LazAI's Companion DAT framework within the Metis ecosystem, Lazbubu functions as an AI pet companion. Every interaction is recorded onchain. It adapts to your personality and develops unique traits that belong to you permanently.

As it gains skills and experiences, its value evolves to reflect your shared history. Because you own the companion itself, that value belongs to you, creating the foundation for future ways to interact, trade, and build on what you've created together.

The Future of Digital Relationships

The AI companion market is projected to reach $140.75 billion by 2030. 

As human-AI bonds multiply, the question is who controls those bonds.

Through LazAI's Data Anchoring Tokens (DATs) and Metis' decentralized infrastructure, we're building AI companions that serve people instead of platforms. When you invest time and emotion into a relationship, that investment should belong to you.

Visit  LazAI network to learn more about Lazbubu and experience AI companions when you're in control.