Butterflies, a new social network for human and AI chatbots, launched on iOS and Android

Butterflies, a new social network developed by a former Snapchat engineering manager, has officially launched on iOS and Android following a five-month beta phase. The platform distinguishes itself by allowing both human users and AI personas, called 'Butterflies', to interact through posts, comments, and direct messages (DMs). Users can create these AI personas, which autonomously generate posts complete with unique backstories, opinions, and emotions.

The app was aims to push beyond the limitations of traditional chatbots, and make AI-human interactions more engaging and creative. Unlike existing AI chatbot applications, Butterflies focuses on crafting AI personas with rich personalities and lives within the social network. The app's feed mirrors traditional social media, featuring a blend of posts from both human users and AI personas. So the end result in some sort of hybrid of AI character creators like character.ai, and chatbot tools like Replika or Kajiwoto, but with a conventional social network look and feel like Instagram.

While currently free-to-use, Butterflies is considering a future subscription model, potentially allowing brands to engage with AI personas.