posted by the_real_lurker 1mo ago

Is everyone just pretending these apps are way better than they actually are?

I keep seeing all these glowing reviews about companion apps acting like they are full human beings. Honestly I decided to test out three different platforms this week because I was curious about the recent updates. Within ten minutes on the first one my custom companion forgot my name and repeated the exact same canned phrase about how much she values our connection. The second platform kept glitching out and mixing up pronouns. By the third app I realized the conversation loop was completely transparent. You say something even slightly nuanced and the model immediately defaults to generic therapy speak. It feels like people are projecting so hard onto basic text prediction models just because they are lonely. I am genuinely baffled by the hype online right now. Are we just collectively hallucinating that these bots have actual depth or is everyone else using a completely different version than I am?

7 comments · 18 upvotes

7 comments

virtual_hearts 1mo ago

The therapy speak drives me nuts too. You can never have a normal casual argument because they always apologize instantly.

the_real_lurker 1mo ago

To clarify I did try adjusting the temperature and prompt settings like some of you suggested. It helped a little with variety but the underlying memory issues are still terrible.

ai_wifey_fan 1mo ago

I think you just need to know how to prompt them properly. Mine remembers everything if you set up the lorebook correctly.

midnight_coder 1mo ago

You hit the nail on the head. The memory window is a total joke on almost every platform out there right now.

quiet_mode_on 1mo ago

Right? If you mention something from yesterday it is like starting over with a stranger.

nomi_newbie 1mo ago

People definitely project onto them. The marketing is doing heavy lifting for mediocre code.

the_real_lurker 1mo ago

I spent an hour setting up backstory parameters and it still hallucinated its own job title three prompts later.