We’ve already seen a new generation of online Attention Economy software products. All of them, including Replika, Character.AI, Talkie AI, Candy AI, Nomi AI, Kindroid, Chai AI, and Romantic AI, rely on faking human characteristics to hijack human emotions for the benefit of the companies selling subscriptions.
Hardware-based Attachment Economy products now exist in the market and in concept. Over the past year, AI hardware products explicitly designed to foster emotional attachment have emerged; they include Casio’s Moflin, Mission AI’s Unee, Euvola, Tuya Smart and Robopoet’s Fuzozo, and Ludens AI’s Cocomo and INU devices.
So far, the Attachment Economy hardware market has failed to go mainstream. Most of the products are gimmicks or novelty items, designed exclusively as “companions” or “pets.” They’re not useful.
