Community
Communities and resources
Where AI companion users actually gather, and where to find a person if you need one.
User communities
Where users gather on Reddit
Subscriber counts pulled from Reddit's public API and refreshed weekly. We have no affiliation with any of these communities. Lurk before you post.
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r/CharacterAI
Character.AI
2,597,326
subscribers
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r/JanitorAI_Official
Janitor AI
216,473
subscribers
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r/ChaiApp
Chai
124,791
subscribers
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r/Replika
Replika
84,042
subscribers
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r/KindroidAI
Kindroid
46,474
subscribers
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r/NomiAI
Nomi
30,923
subscribers
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r/HeavenGF NSFW
NSFW companion discussion
16,075
subscribers
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r/ChatbotAddiction Meta
Dependency support
2,845
subscribers
Most apps also run official Discord servers. The most reliable place to find them is the "Community" link on the app's own website, since URLs change.
For the curious
Research and journalism
Where people who study this professionally gather and publish.
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MIT Media Lab: Companion Chatbots and Loneliness
Ongoing research project on the long-term effects of AI companion use. The most serious large-scale study currently underway.
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AI Incident Database
Open repository of documented harms from AI systems, including companion bots. Free to browse, contributions accepted from researchers.
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npj Mental Health Research
Open-access journal where some of the most-cited AI companion research has been published, including the Stanford Replika study.
When you need a person
Support and crisis resources
AI companions are not crisis services. The resources below are staffed by trained humans, are confidential, and are free.
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Call or text 988 for free, confidential support 24/7. The right resource if you are in crisis. AI companions are not.
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Text HOME to 741741 (US/Canada), 85258 (UK), 50808 (Ireland). Free, 24/7 confidential text-based crisis support.
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Free, anonymous emotional support from trained listeners. Lower-stakes than crisis lines; useful when you want to talk to a person but a friend is not available.
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National Alliance on Mental Illness. Call 1-800-950-NAMI for information, support, and referrals. Not a crisis line but useful for navigating mental-health resources.
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Find a Helpline lists crisis services in 130+ countries. Useful if you are outside the US.
Know a community or resource we should add? Use the contact form. We curate carefully and add only places where the moderation, scale, or quality is high enough to send readers to in good conscience.