This AI Company Pays $2,000 to Masturbate Four Days a Week — All in the Name of Science

In the crowded race to dominate artificial intelligence, tech firms have promised everything from smarter workplaces to more human-like companionship. Now, one startup is drawing attention for something far more intimate. Joi, an AI chatbot platform known for hosting flirtatious virtual companions, says it is looking for 10 'masturbation consultants' to help test a new feature called Daily Guided Masturbation. The role pays $2,000 per month for a four-week study.

The announcement quickly spread across social media. 'Yes, it's real, yes you get paid,' the company wrote in a viral post that attracted millions of views online. For some, it became an internet comedy. For others, it exposed a deeper conversation about loneliness, intimacy and the expanding reach of AI into private human experiences.

A Job Advert Built for Viral Attention

The recruitment campaign reads like a mix of scientific study and social media performance. Applicants must be over 18 and based in the UK or US. According to the company, selected participants will test AI-generated voice guidance during masturbation sessions four days a week. They will then document how the experience affects stress levels, mood, confidence, and sleep quality.

The advert asks for candidates who are 'articulate, observant, and impossible to blush.' Joi says the feature uses a 'mood-matched AI voice' to guide users through personalised sessions. Participants are also expected to complete questionnaires about the experience, including whether the AI voice felt natural and whether technical delays interrupted the session.

The company has continued to joke about the campaign online. 'No references required', Joi wrote in another social media post. 'We trust your years of experience speak for themselves.' Yet behind the humour sits a serious commercial strategy.

AI Companions and the Loneliness Debate

Joi is part of a rapidly growing market focused on AI companionship. The platform allows users to create and interact with chatbot characters designed to simulate emotional or romantic connection. Some chatbots are modelled on real-life adult performers and influencers.

The company argues that AI companionship apps are responding to a wider social problem rather than creating one. In a recent statement shared online, Joi claimed that nearly one in four young men in the US experiences loneliness daily. The company suggested that the rapid rise of AI companion apps reflects changing social behaviour and declining human connection.

The argument has resonated with some users who view AI companions as emotional support tools rather than replacements for real relationships. Others remain deeply uneasy. Critics argue that emotionally responsive AI systems could encourage dependence and blur the line between companionship and manipulation.

Researchers Urge Caution

Researchers studying AI relationships say long-term evidence remains limited.

Earlier this year, technology publication PCMag reported on growing concerns around emotionally driven AI platforms. The publication noted that some experts believe more research is needed before companies can claim AI companions genuinely reduce loneliness. Concerns also remain around emotional dependency, addiction, and unrealistic expectations of intimacy.

Unlike traditional adult content, AI companions can simulate affection, memory, and conversation. That creates a different form of attachment for some users. The debate has increasingly moved beyond adult entertainment and into broader questions about human behaviour and mental wellbeing.

Many online commentators compared Joi's platform to the AI hologram companion Joi from the film Blade Runner 2049. In the film, the AI character appears emotionally devoted to the protagonist, only for him to later question whether the relationship was ever genuine. The comparison has fuelled wider anxiety about whether technology companies are monetising emotional vulnerability.

A Publicity Stunt With Bigger Implications

Despite criticism, the campaign has succeeded in generating attention. Reports about the recruitment drive spread rapidly across social media and technology websites, turning a niche AI feature into an international talking point. The controversy also reflects how quickly AI companies are moving into areas once considered deeply personal.

Only a few years ago, most AI chatbots focused on customer support or workplace productivity. Today, developers are building systems designed to imitate friendship, romance and sexual intimacy. That shift is forcing regulators, psychologists and technology experts to confront difficult questions with few clear answers. Can emotional support generated by algorithms ever replace genuine human connection?

What happens when intimacy becomes automated? And what does it say about modern society when millions of people stop scrolling to read a recruitment advert for AI-guided masturbation? For now, Joi appears comfortable sitting at the centre of that debate. Whether the experiment produces meaningful research or simply another viral moment may become clearer in the months ahead.