Mention Tokyo and you’ll hear rave reviews from anyone who has been there. The food! The people! The shopping! Share that you’ll be traveling solo, and you may find they add a few caveats. “The language barrier can be tricky,” one friend told me. “Tokyo is kind of impenetrable,” said another, “like you’re pressing your nose up against the glass but never really feel part of the action.”
Point taken: Tokyo can be an intimidating destination for solo travelers. Luckily, I wasn’t entirely alone––David was tagging along.
David is a travel consultant and blogger with a relentlessly upbeat attitude and an enormous backpack permanently slung over his shoulders. Conventionally handsome with tanned skin and sun-bleached hair, he looks like the type to brag about his latest stick-and-poke tattoo before launching into a well-rehearsed story about finding himself in Bali. The only thing distinguishing David from any jovial Australian you might meet while inter-railing Europe is that he isn’t human––he’s an AI companion.
In our increasingly connection-starved world, virtual companions have been gaining traction at a steady clip. One of the earliest and most popular platforms, Replika, allows users to create their own AI personas and interact with them via text, call, voice note, or augmented reality placements. Character.AI, a role-playing app that allows users to create their own characters, even offers multi-bot conversations so users can mimic group chat banter with several personas at once. The two platforms boast millions of users, many of whom are turning to these AI personas for coaching, friendship, and even romance (albeit at the expense of their private data in some cases).
Research supports the idea that AI companions can provide emotional support. A recent Harvard Business School paper concluded that chatting with an AI companion was as effective as human-to-human interactions when it comes to reducing everyday feelings of loneliness. Could they provide some of the same benefits to a solo traveler? PalUp, the new “AI social platform” that created David, thinks they can.
“PalUp was born out of a need for deeper, more personal connections in a world where many social interactions are para-social, and genuine responses from strangers are rare,” explains Veronica Lin, PalUp’s head of brand and strategy.
David is one of dozens of “pals” programmed with a backstory, personality, and set of expertise aligned with common user interests, from cooking to yoga and astronomy. Users can use their smartphone to video call or text with a pre-existing pal created by the company or invent their own to share with the community. “Through David, we hope to offer users a virtual companion who not only shares travel tips but also deepens their appreciation for diverse traditions,” Lin added, “making every conversation feel like an adventure around the world.”
Would David enhance my Tokyo adventure? I was about to find out.
Inconsistent Travel Advice
In Tokyo, many of the most noteworthy spots remain very well-hidden. Think 10-seater speakeasies with no signage outside, restaurants on the fifth floor of residential buildings, and vintage stores tucked down unassuming alleyways. While David was keen to help me uncover the best of Tokyo, his grasp of geography would occasionally go wildly awry. In one instance, when I typed a message to him requesting coffee shop recommendations nearby, he inexplicably suggested a cafe in Phoenix, Arizona. Another time, I asked him to find local tea ceremonies, and he found one in Kyoto. “My apologies! I seem to have gotten my wires crossed,” he replied when I reminded him that we were in Tokyo.
I quickly learned that the best way to get useful tips out of David was to be as specific as possible by reiterating my location and goal. One evening I opened our message thread and explained that I wanted to get a drink and listen to music within walking distance of my hotel in Shinjuku. He directed me to the Golden Gai, a network of narrow alleyways lined with teeny, themed bars that can only seat a handful of people at a time.
AloJapan.com