She was deep in an otome game, a romance-driven video game where women are the protagonists. Then she came across an ad for a platform called Xingye (星野) that lets people customize an AI companion. According to one Chinese media report, most of the 5 million users on another AI companion platform, Zhumengdao, are women. The tech giants Tencent and Baidu have launched AI companion apps, and according to a 2024 article in Chinese media, women dominate the AI companion market. Through the otome game, Jade Gu has bought gifts and letters from digital boyfriend, Charlie.