Artem Rodichev is the Founder and CEO of Ex-human, an organization focused on constructing empathetic AI characters for engaging conversations. Before founding Ex-human, Artem was the Head of AI at Replika from 2017 to 2021, where he led the event one of the vital popular English-speaking chatbots, growing its user base to 10 million within the U.S.
You spent several years as Head of AI at Replika, constructing one of the vital popular conversational AIs. What inspired you to depart and located Ex-human, and the way did your experience at Replika influence your vision for Ex-human?
During my time at Replika, I had the chance to assist shape a conversational AI that resonated with thousands and thousands of users, which gave me deep insight into how people connect with technology on an emotional level. As rewarding because it was, I at all times felt there was more potential for AI beyond what we were constructing. I saw a chance to expand AI’s potential across multiple sectors and use cases.
At Replika, the main focus was totally on making a companion AI, but I started to ascertain how conversational AI may very well be integrated into diverse applications, offering personalized, emotionally intelligent interactions for a big selection of use cases — from entertainment to enterprise. That realization sparked the thought for Ex-Human, where we aim to develop AI technology that not only provides companionship but additionally powers modern experiences for businesses and consumers alike.
Ex-Human was born from the need to push the boundaries of AI even further, making it more adaptive, engaging, and capable of remodeling how people interact with digital characters across various industries.
Ex-human uses AI avatars to interact thousands and thousands of users. Are you able to explain how your AI avatars are designed to be empathetic and responsive?
We’ve spent a number of time refining how our AI characters interact with users, ensuring that they’re not only reactive but truly attentive to the emotional tone of the conversation. A method we do that is by training our models on thousands and thousands of open-domain conversations, allowing them to learn engage in a way that feels natural and emotionally aware.
The goal is to make users feel understood and heard. These characters aren’t just programmed to offer answers; they’re designed to foster authentic interactions. They pick up on subtle emotional cues and respond in ways in which feel human-like and comforting. That’s why our users spend significant time interacting with them.
Beyond just text, our avatars are able to multi-modal interactions. They will respond with voice, send contextual images, and even video, which adds a layer of richness and depth to the conversations. This number of interaction styles helps users feel more immersed within the experience and enables them to construct full stories with the AI characters. At the top of the day, we aim to create AI that goes beyond standard interactions, offering users a deeply engaging, emotionally intelligent experience that keeps them returning.
How does the information collected out of your B2C platform botify.ai influence the training and development of your AI models?
With thousands and thousands of users engaging in conversations with a wide range of characters on our platform, we’re capable of collect an unlimited amount of real-world interaction data. This helps us understand not only how users communicate, but additionally what makes those interactions emotionally meaningful.
By analyzing this data, we’re capable of fine-tune our models to be more responsive and empathetic. It’s a continuous cycle: user interactions provide insights, allowing us to fine-tune and evolve the AI. This approach allows us to enhance the conversational flow, tone, and the general emotional intelligence of our avatars.
In essence, our B2C platform is a sort of real-time testing ground. The info we collect enables us to always evolve and adapt our AI to fulfill user expectations, and people improvements directly influence how we develop our B2B solutions as well. It’s how we be certain that our AI stays not only cutting-edge but additionally deeply human in its interactions.
How does Ex-human ensure data privacy and ethical AI practices while using large amounts of user data for training purposes?
Data privacy and ethical AI practices are our top priorities, especially given the amounts of user data we work with. Firstly, we be certain that all data is anonymized before it’s used for any training or evaluation. This implies personal identifiers are removed, so the information can’t be traced back to individual users, protecting their privacy throughout the method.
We even have strict data handling protocols in place. Users’ data isn’t used without their consent, and we’re fully transparent about how the information is collected and utilized. Moreover, we repeatedly review our practices to remain according to evolving data protection laws and ethical guidelines.
With regards to training our AI, we place a powerful emphasis on ensuring that our models behave in a responsible and unbiased way. By always monitoring and testing our AI, we work to stop any unintended biases from appearing in our interactions. This mixture of privacy safeguards and ethical AI development ensures that we are able to deliver emotionally intelligent and responsive AI without compromising user trust or security.
Ex-human’s avatars have significantly higher user engagement than platforms like Instagram. What’s the important thing to achieving such high levels of user interaction?
The important thing lies within the emotional responsiveness – it’s what keeps users coming back and spending more time interacting with our avatars.
One other factor is the extent of customization and personalization we provide. Users can create and interact with a wide range of AI characters, each with its own unique personality and elegance. Whether it’s chatting with a fictional character or creating a very customized avatar, users feel more involved and connected to the experience, making it way more engaging than simply scrolling through content on social media platforms.
Moreover, our deal with multimodal interactions, where avatars respond with text, images, audio, and even video, adds to the immersive experience. This makes users feel actively involved in a narrative that adapts and grows with them, slightly than passively consuming content. All of those elements together contribute to the upper levels of engagement we see in comparison with social media platforms.
You’ve formed partnerships with firms like Grindr. How do businesses profit from integrating Ex-human’s AI, and what measurable results have they seen?
We allow businesses to supply more personalized and interesting user experiences. Our technology enables them to construct characters that engage users in thoughtful, natural conversations. For instance, within the case of Grindr, we’ve introduced features like an AI wingman that helps users improve their profiles and a virtual companion to practice dating conversations. These features not only make the platform more engaging but additionally provide practical value to users.
By way of measurable results, firms have seen improvements in user engagement and retention after integrating our AI solutions. This shows how AI-driven characters can add real value to businesses by creating deeper connections with users.
How does your AI-driven engagement compare to traditional marketing methods when it comes to customer retention and conversion?
We’re capable of offer something much more immersive and personalized. Traditional marketing often focuses on short-term attention grabs or delivering static messages, but our platform is built around continuous experiences—which allows for deeper engagement over time.
What really sets us apart is the extent of interaction. On average, users spend over 60 minutes a day with our avatars, and our paying users engage for even longer, exchanging a whole lot of messages. The mixture of multimodal capabilities creates a way more engaging experience, akin to an AI-powered Netflix, where users change into a part of the story. This goes beyond what traditional marketing can achieve.
How do you see the longer term of AI avatars and digital humans transforming industries like customer support, healthcare, or entertainment?
In customer support, they might handle routine queries more efficiently while maintaining a high level of consistency, freeing up human agents to deal with more complex issues. This mix of automation and personalized support can significantly improve response times and overall customer satisfaction.
In healthcare, AI avatars could assist with mental health support, offering companionship and even coaching, particularly in scenarios where human professionals are stretched thin. They may even be used to guide patients through administrative processes, making healthcare more accessible and fewer intimidating for individuals who might otherwise avoid in search of help.
In entertainment, the chances are even broader. AI avatars can create entirely recent forms of interactive content, allowing users to interact directly with characters in ways in which traditional media can’t offer. Whether it’s a game, a virtual concert, and even digital influencers, AI can generate unique experiences which can be tailored to individual preferences, opening up recent revenue streams for the industry.
What key lessons have you ever learned out of your transition from Head of AI at Replika to founding and scaling your individual company?
A key lesson I’ve learned within the shift is how dramatically the role changes. As an engineer, I could dive deep into technical challenges and deal with problem-solving, but as a founder, the scope expands significantly. Suddenly, you’re not only constructing technology—you’re also managing teams, working with investors, making strategic decisions, and ensuring the corporate’s growth on multiple fronts.
The hardest part was moving from a hands-on, technical mindset to at least one that involves always switching between different roles and responsibilities. It’s less about solving one specific problem and more about managing all the things concurrently, all while keeping the general vision in sight. This broader perspective has been essential for growing Ex-Human and navigating the entrepreneurial landscape.
