Why has companion AI usage declined significantly compared to 2023 and 2024?

Since 2023, we’ve been exploring a new interactive entertainment platform, and one of the biggest takeaways is that, besides the commonly discussed PMF (Product-Market Fit), TPF (Technology-Product Fit) is equally critical.

Often, we overestimate the user value a technology can deliver in a specific demand area too early.

For example, we aimed to create an interactive entertainment feed where users could not only create characters but also engage in interactive, continuous open worlds through interactions with them. These characters could send not just text and voice messages but also short videos of the worlds they inhabit, with each character having long-term memory and evolving personalities.

However, after some time we found that even the most basic text and voice conversations couldn’t be sustained—characters would forget earlier interactions with users after a while, failing to deliver even the core value of companionship. Then users gradually stopped using these products.