CEO at Ex-Human
Artem Rodichev
Founder & CEO of Ex-human. Creating AI that feels alive, fun, and empathetic. Previously built the AI brains behind Replika, the world’s most popular AI companion with 30M+ users.
Questions & Answers
What's the story behind your company?
In 2013, while watching "Her", I was captivated by Samantha, the AI companion that Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with. That moment sparked my vision that "Empathetic AI characters are the future." This led me to join Replika as Head of AI in San Francisco when the company joined YC. Replika is a leading AI chatbot company with 30 million users. At Replika, we built a product users deeply connected with, spending hours chatting and sharing secrets with their AI friends. However, I began to see limitations of Replika platform: 1. Focus on a single AI personality 2. Primarily consumer-focused approach 3. Heavy reliance on 3D avatars Realizing a massive opportunity to scale Empathetic AI, I left Replika to found Ex-Human.
What problem or opportunity inspired you to start your company, and how has your vision evolved since then?
The primary objective of Ex-Human is to address the growing loneliness epidemic by creating empathetic AI characters for various applications. These AI companions cater to users’ emotional and social needs while offering scalable, customizable solutions for businesses across various industries. Our technology empowers businesses to create highly personalized AI-driven experiences that feel truly interactive and dynamic. By enabling the development of AI characters with distinct personalities, backstories, and emotional depth, we help companies build immersive digital experiences that drive engagement, retention, and monetization.
What's a memorable 'aha' moment you've had while building your startup?
A big 'aha' moment was realizing users loved our AI characters, spending 90 minutes daily. With over 1 million monthly active users and millions of AI characters handling hundreds of millions of messages, it hit me: we’d built something truly engaging.
