At last, something has emerged in the world of NSFW AI entertainment for men that feminists and lawmakers might not want to ban or criminalize – a perpetually angry and jealous AI girlfriend, forever throwing rages and tantrums at you. Sounds like fun? Well, the app was designed by a female, with the intention of teaching men better relationship skills. I haven’t tested the AngryGF app yet myself, which is available on both Google Play and the Apple Store, so I can’t say if the AI chatbot’s avatar comes with a ‘dyed blue hair’ default setting. However, a reporter at Wired magazine did give it a try, and here are some of her thoughts quoted below.
The app sets an initial “forgiveness level” anywhere between 0 and 100 percent. You have 10 tries to say soothing things that tilt the forgiveness meter back to 100. I chose the beguilingly vague scenario called “Angry for no reason,” in which the girlfriend is, uh, angry for no reason. The forgiveness meter was initially set to a measly 30 percent, indicating I had a hard road ahead of me.
Reader: I failed. Although I genuinely tried to write messages that would appease my hopping-mad fake girlfriend, she continued to interpret my words in the least generous light and accuse me of not paying attention to her. A simple “How are you doing today?” text from me—Caring! Considerate! Asking questions!—was met with an immediately snappy answer: “Oh, now you care about how I’m doing?” Attempts to apologize only seemed to antagonize her further. When I proposed a dinner date, she told me that wasn’t sufficient but also that I better take her “somewhere nice.”
Emilia Aviles, the co-founder of the app, told the reporter that the idea of it came through her experiences of past relationships with men, making the blanket and very sexist judgement that “men listen, but don’t take action”. Although AngryGF is designed primarily to teach men how to better handle their real-life girlfriends’ often complicated and unpredictable needs, Aviles wanted to take a gamified approach to it. You either win or lose the arguments with your virtual girlfriend, depending on how much you manage to appease her with your words.
In an article I penned back in September of last year, entitled – ‘How AI Girlfriends Might Develop‘, I suggested that AI GF sites could take a more gamified approach, and rather than simply pandering to your every need and want, the virtual companion could sometimes reject you. In this way, the sites and apps could market themselves as teaching men real seduction skills. After all, I noted that the male sex toy industry still often tries to market their products as ‘building sexual stamina’ and such. One such AI GF service I recommend for this type of experience is PornJoy (also the AI generator I used for this article’s featured image).
As for the Wired reporter (who is, as it happens, female), she wasn’t impressed, noting the apparent impossibility of placating her AI girlfriend, as well as the $6.99 weekly premium charge demanded to access further scenarios. Well, I guess governments could simply make it illegal for men NOT to purchase the app.
It was such an irritating experience that I snapped and told this bitchy bot that she was annoying. “Great to know that my feelings are such a bother to you,” the sarcast-o-bot replied. When I decided to try again a few hours later, the app informed me that I’d need to upgrade to the paid version to unlock more scenarios for $6.99 a week. No thank you.
