AI companion company Replika has teamed up with the team behind AI-powered dating simulator Blush, Tomo, a wellness and meditation app that features AI-generated avatars to guide users. It was a concept that seemed preconceived when generative AI emerged, but while at Tomo I wondered if I could be as open to AI as a real therapist.
Now generally available in the Apple iOS Store, Tomo takes users on a virtual island vacation… greeted by an AI-generated avatar guide named Tomo. Tomo offers programs that help people discover personal growth, mental health and fulfillment. It offers guided meditation, yoga, affirmation classes and most importantly, talk therapy.
Users can try Tomo for free for three days. After that, they have to choose whether they want to pay $7.99 per week or $49.99 per year.
I will try Tomo before I start. When I first launched the app, I was greeted by spa music, suggesting that the app is meant to make users feel like they’re in a spa rather than a therapist’s office. Then my avatar Tomo, painted as a young woman standing in front of a traditional Japanese house on an island, asks me if I’m ready to begin. Tomo started asking me some questions to find out what I wanted to work on.
“We worked with trainers and psychologists to develop the program for Tomo. We focused on the most common problems, but also thought about what would work best with conversational AI,” said Eugenia Koeda, founder and CEO of Replica. edges in an email message. “We had a lot of experience developing replica training programs with clinical psychologists at UC Berkeley; For Tomo, we expanded this to include mindfulness teachers to combine Eastern and Western practices.”
This method looked like texting a therapist through a text therapy service like BetterHelp. I had already been in individual therapy, so the experience of sharing more about myself was not new. However, I’ve never been a fan of text message therapy; I prefer stream-of-consciousness conversations to writing my fears. But for practical training, I kept texting Tomo. I started creating a profile based on my answers. My profile says I want to focus on work, have financial concerns and need help with stress. In other words, a journalist exists at the end of capitalism. Tomo summarized our conversation but wrongly assumed I was “determined to pursue pottery”, although I was curious about whether it might be a potential stress reliever.
After the initial conversation, users can explore other activities or “areas” on the island. I don’t seem to have any virtual pottery to follow; Instead, the programs Tomo offers range from mastering the art of work-life balance to building motivation to improve sleep, delivered in the form of modules that users can complete in two weeks to a month. Finally, people around the island can unlock 3D objects that “allow deeper exploration of their inner home,” the developers said.
Tomo, the avatar guide, is said to be powered by generative AI for better conversations with users. But to be honest, talking to Tomo was no different than talking to a regular chatbot. I couldn’t get him to do a little art therapy with me (he didn’t want to draw) or shopping therapy (he couldn’t help me with the shopping or travel tasks I wanted to delegate to him) – which didn’t mean ‘I’m like a fully formed digital being in one respect. Felt from where I could get rid of my problems. It really sounded like someone was playing background music on ChatGPT.
Although I found the guided meditations helpful, they also felt similar to other guided meditation apps I’ve tried before. Eventually I lost interest because when I thought about opening Tomo, I already needed work from my therapist.
The use of AI to treat mental illness remains controversial, particularly as privacy protections remain inadequate in many technology-based solutions to mental illness. It’s hard work, and Replika, the company behind Tomo’s digital avatar, is already in trouble. Italy banned replicas last year Replika for failing to comply with chat app security standards. But Replicar’s CEO says he’s taking extra precautions with Tomo, though the company didn’t share its full privacy policy with me.
“We do not share information with third parties and rely on a subscription business model. What users say to Tomo remains private between them and their trainer,” Koeda said.
Tomo is only available on iPhone. The Android version will be released later this year. Replica plans to launch an app on Apple’s Vision Pro that will pave the way for more immersive Tomo-guided meditation.