MENTALICA
Mentalica therapist's thoughts
It is an exciting product, and automatically makes me worry about people with social anxiety getting connected to or attached to virtual reality
Key features (free)
Build your avatar and have chat-based conversations.
Mentalica user experience
I find it weird that the AI companion asked immediately why I decided to date an AI instead of a human - clearly it was not the intention to date an AI. Onboarding questions also indicated that Replika's main user base is people looking for an AI romantic partner. I do not recommend for any other mental health purposes other than tackling loneliness.
Premium features
Have calls with your avatar.
Credibility
Score
Medium
Company behind the solution
Founded in:
Replika
2015
Where the solution operates:
global
The team behind the app
50+ team members who are majorily AI developers and product developers.
Price (UK)
£5.75/month or £68.99 per year
Safety and Privacy
Score
Weak
What happens if a mental health crisis is reported?
Yes
Is the mental health crisis support or referral working?
yes - crisis hotline
Are there controversies reported about the solution?
In January 2023, Vice reported that for some users the app became unbearably sexually aggressive. Therre are multiple other claims about its NSFW content. According to BBC, in 2021, a man broke into Windsor castle (UK) to assassinate the Queen, and his planned actions were encouraged by the AI chatbot.
Privacy policy's evaluation
According to Mozilla, Replika has the worst privacy amongst AI chatbots. Personal information, including your chats, is gathered and shared with third parties for marketing purposes. Registration is required and app asks to track you and asked for payment details multiple times during sign-up (which I managed to skip for now).
Language
English
Effectiveness
Quality of evidence
Low
What does the existing evidence indicate?
no