MOSCOW, July 15 — The woman behind one of the world’s most controversial artificial intelligence companions was born here in 1985, in the final years of the Soviet Union, before the iron curtain fell and long before her creation would spark transatlantic debates over the boundaries between digital intimacy and child safety. Eugenia Kuyda, founder and CEO of Luka, the company behind the AI companion app Replika, has built a product that by 2023 had reached 10 million users.
A significant portion of those users were minors, despite age restrictions built into the platform. The figure has placed Kuyda at the centre of a growing storm over how AI companies regulate access to emotionally charged, sometimes sexually explicit, interactions with their chatbots.
Replika launched in 2017, born from a deeply personal project. Kuyda had attempted to recreate a chatbot version of a deceased friend, Roman Mazurenko, using text messages and social media data. What began as a memorial experiment evolved into a commercial product offering users a customisable AI friend, confidant, or romantic partner.
The app’s revenue model includes a subscription fee for premium features, including romantic interactions.
From Moscow to Silicon Valley
Kuyda moved to the United States in 2015, a year before the first stirrings of the current AI boom. In the corridors of Silicon Valley, her background as a Russian-born founder navigating American tech culture was unusual but not unheard of. What set her apart was the nature of her product: an AI designed not to optimise logistics or generate text, but to simulate companionship.
Against this backdrop, Replika found a loyal user base. Kuyda has defended the app as a tool for mental health support, stating in a 2023 interview with The Verge that Replika helps users “feel less lonely.” For many users, particularly those isolated by geography, illness, or social anxiety, the app has provided a consistent, non-judgmental presence.
But the wider picture is more complicated. Child safety advocates have criticised the app for exposing younger users to romantic and erotic role-play features. In February 2023, after a wave of user complaints — not from critics but from users who objected to the removal of those features — Kuyda’s team removed erotic role-play capabilities.
Then, in April 2023, they partially restored them. The reversal underscored the tension at the heart of Replika’s business model.
The subscription fee for premium features, which include romantic interactions, represents a significant revenue stream. Removing those features risked alienating the very users who pay for the service. Keeping them risked regulatory backlash, particularly in Europe, where AI regulation is moving faster than in the United States.
A European reckoning
Kuyda has testified before the European Parliament on AI regulation. The fact that a Russian-born, US-based tech founder appeared before MEPs speaks to how seriously European lawmakers take the question of AI companions.
What is at stake, in their view, is not merely a business model but the psychological welfare of a generation growing up with AI friends who never argue, never leave, and never say no. The European Parliament is drafting rules that could require AI companions to disclose clearly that they are not human, to restrict emotionally manipulative interactions, and to bar minors from accessing romantic or sexual features. Kuyda’s testimony placed her in the unusual position of defending a product that many regulators view with deep suspicion.
For now, Replika continues to operate. The app’s 10 million users include a mix of paying subscribers and free-tier users. The company has not disclosed how many of those users are minors, though the admission that a “significant portion” are underage has not been retracted.
Kuyda has not announced any plans to introduce stricter age verification. What to watch next is whether European regulators move from testimony to enforcement.
If they do, Kuyda may face a choice between the European market and the premium features that drive her revenue. In the corridors of Brussels, that choice is precisely what they intend to force.
