How Losing Her Best Friend Led Eugenia Kuyda to Build the World's First AI Companion

What happens when AI stops being just a tool… and becomes a relationship?In this episode of Ventures from the Valley, host Victor Orlovski speaks with Eugenia Kuyda — founder of Replika and Wabi — about the future of emotional AI, AI companions, consumer technology, and the next wave of human-computer interaction.Eugenia shares the deeply personal story behind Replika, how the loss of her best friend inspired one of the world’s first AI companion platforms, and why millions of users formed emotional connections with AI long before ChatGPT existed.They also discuss:• The early days of conversational AI before transformers• Building emotional intelligence into software• Why Replika had 1.5M users on the waitlist before launch• The rise of ChatGPT and OpenAI• Why emotional AI may become bigger than assistants• The future of AI relationships and digital companions• Why AI could replace millions of jobs• The next generation of AI interfaces through Wabi• Consumer AI vs enterprise AI• The future battle between Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and startupsThis conversation explores one of the biggest questions of our time: can AI truly understand humans — and what happens if it does?Watch the full episode and subscribe for more conversations with world-class founders, investors, and AI pioneers.Learn more about  R136 VenturesWhat do you think — will emotional AI help humanity or make people more isolated?#venturecapital #R136 #AI #Replika #EugeniaKuyda