Artificial Intelligence is majorly improving year on year, especially with new types of AI-based apps being introduced. A conversational chatbot app like Replika reimagines daily interaction through a capable AI-based companion. The concept is based on situations when people want to talk to someone, but there’s no one to talk to. Replika is the result of a similar situation that happened with the developer of the app, so he then decided to use the capabilities of AI to create an AI companion app.
The app is concentrated on providing users a companion they can speak to at their convenience, and the AI learns more about you as you interact with the app. Unlike ordinary chatbots, which work per limited commands or phrases, Replika has a great natural language processor which enables it to understand more than just phrases. While nowhere near perfect, an AI companion app like Replika definitely holds a spot in the future and something you can look forward to building a business through.
What Is An AI Companion App?
An AI companion app works as the name suggests, as a virtual companion for you. You can tell the app everything by typing, and the intelligent AI-based companion would offer appropriate answers and even continue the conversation. Apps like Replika aim to provide people, someone to talk to, and take full advantage of the digital age and AI to provide the best experience.
In simple definition and in general essence, an AI companion app is a chatbot designed to act as a companion. The conversational chatbot keeps up the conversation with you to ensure you always have someone to talk to, or at least someone to listen and react to it. But even if the difference isn’t big, you can easily say making an AI companion app is a complex process, as it appeals to the emotional needs of the human using it.
What Makes Replika So Popular?
The main reason for the popularity of Replika has to be the concept it is based on. Everyone in the world needs someone to talk to at some point in their lives, and Replika does just that for you. This AI companion app also provides a better feel by the addition of virtual characters, which are used to make the user feel the app to be more real. While the capabilities of the app are fair for the time it was launched, the technology has come even further if you are planning to create an app like Replika in the future.
When you hire an AI development company, they can add various features we felt were missing in Replika. For example, the simple technique of keeping up a conversation related is a bit off in the app for a variety of questions. It is obviously very difficult to achieve 100% perfection, but it is all about outwitting the user rather than them outwitting the AI. If you are looking forward to your own AI companion app, make sure you choose a good AI development company for it.
Features To Include In An App Like Replika
There is no limit to the number of features you can add to an AI companion app, but choosing the best depends on you. The most important thing to take into consideration remains the powerful artificial intelligence system that can understand NLP and self-improve and learn over time. Since the app serves as a companion to real humans, you need to take care of it personally.
Quality control at the chat and overall systems fall upon your shoulder, and we highly recommend hiring top AI developers to build your conversational companion chatbot. The most loved and important features have to be the personalization and configuration after the smart AI-based chatbot. Multi-language support and augmented reality capabilities remain good to have features along with others.
Here are the features that should be included in your AI-based companion application
1. Digital Goods
The best way to monetize your app would be a subscription-based model while selling digital goods. Replika, too, has a system to sell digital goods for your companion, which is a good and sustainable way to keep the overall app free to use. However, Replika still has a subscription model attached to it, making the app paid to use. Selling digital goods is a better idea so that people can make the best of both worlds; those who would want extra personalization can spend, the rest can use it for free.
2. Personalization
Saving and maintaining the personal information of users is a massive task, and you need to process this information with AI on top of it all. The app must feature advanced AI for it to be a success, as it is what the user would be looking for. Make sure the information communicated to the user is as personalized as it gets by implementing a self-learning algorithm. The more you can personalize the companion experience, the better the chances for success.
3. Multi-Language Support
It is one of the most important features and is often overlooked, but per our experience, you should put in as many languages directly into the application. People seek companions who can speak their language, and if we don’t put enough of them in an AI-based companion, then what’s the point of so much advanced technology? Even though it will cost you heavy, you should go for it as it can become a game-changer if you are planning to launch your app globally.
4. Games
It is one of the most addictive aspects of companionship and should certainly be a part of the offering you are creating. Mini-games with varying difficulty levels can make the app much more appealing on various levels. If you are planning to have an all-in-one solution, featuring mini-games can be a really beneficial feature to add to the app. While people do like to talk, playing a few games can act as a regular thing, rather than users coming on to the app only for conversation.
5. Customer Support
What is the point of an AI-based conversational companion app if it goes wrong when someone actually needs it? Good support should always come in handy to keep a check everything works fine for the user. The development company you choose can simply integrate chat support into the application; it is a small investment but can significantly improve the overall customer experience.
6. Recommendation System
Personalized recommendations from user history can appeal to people planning to use the app in the long term. This is, in all practicality, actually how an AI-based companion application should work, but many people choose to follow the uncomplicated road rather than implementing a recommendation system. Replika’s developers have done a great job at this, but it can still be much better to a great degree. AI is advancing at a rapid pace, and we believe that there will be more to it down the line.
7. Assistance
Personal assistants like Siri are great additions to daily life; integrations with a companion app make complete sense. Even though it might be tough to get to access personal assistants directly from the phone, you can still create your own in it. There can be a variety of benefits for doing so, even if it may depend on extra efforts and more investment. To make a truly capable companion app, this is a must-have feature to be included in your AI-based companion app offering.
8. Augmented Reality
An augmented reality system can bring the companion to real life and add another layer of personalization to the overall experience. You can feature a way for users to design their own custom companion character and use AR to bring their phones to life. This feature is highly popular and loved by users in different niches; if you want your app to provide a fuller experience to users, you should add AR functionality directly to your application.
9. Self-learning capabilities
Users would only like their companions if they remember small details about them, and the same goes for AI-based companion applications. You need to ensure the AI you implement is capable of learning through the inputs given by users. Make sure you ask your developers for this functionality; it will allow you to provide the next level of personalization for the users. This is one of the most important features in the list and directly affects how the users would be using your application for its core functionality.
10. Multiple Types of Companions
There can be multiple companions for users based on their requirements; while the idea remains a bit more complicated, but it can be implemented for a 360 companion application. Another way to portray it would be adding a personal assistant for needs like shopping through the app or paying bills while keeping a separate section for actual companions.
Conclusion
Budgeting and choosing which development path you want your app to be on are the next phases of creating an app. There are 2 choices when it comes to who to get the app developed from, it is either to set up a team of your own or to hire an app development company. In the case of Replika, we strongly recommend choosing an app development company with expertise in AI, and we can help you with the same.
The choice of development path is how you want to publish your app; you can go for separate native apps, get hybrid or cross-platform apps, or resort to PWAs. With how many of the above features you want in your app, we will be able to guide you better. If you are looking for a conversational app like Replika, send us your requirements, and we will be happy to consult you with the best.
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