Towards the end of August 2025, I was contacted to ask if I knew anything about a recent acquisition by Linden Lab – that of Blush AI, a dating simulator available for both Android and iOS that (quote) “helps you learn and practice relationship skills in a safe and fun environment”.
Blush AI was originally developed by Luka Inc., the company behind Replika, an emotional artificial intelligence (AI) companion chatbot first released in 2017, and which has proven highly popular with a claim of over 30 million users – although it has not been without its share of concerns around user data protection.
At the time I was contacted, the acquisition of Blush AI from Luka Inc., was causing some concern within the forums and on social media, with some of the concerns being around the possible use of SL chat logs being used to train the AI. As there had been no official announcement on the matter, I contacted Linden Lab to see if they would comment on the acquisition. Due to matters of vacations, etc., it took a while to obtain a response, but this week I did receive an official statement on the acquisition, which hopefully addresses some of the concerns raised in the forum thread:
Linden Lab has always been a place where new ideas are explored both in and outside of Second Life. Blush is one of those explorations—a small, independent product with its own team and no connection to Second Life user data. Blush is a separate effort focused on AI companionship, while our focus in Second Life is on growing and improving the world our creators have built.
We have no plans now or in the future to use Second Life conversations or content to train AI systems. Any such use would require explicit disclosure in our Privacy Policy. Second Life remains our flagship offering, built around empowering human creativity, and we are continuing to invest heavily in it with recent updates like glTF imports, WebRTC voice, our mobile app, and Project Zero.
– Linden Lab spokesperson
Given this, it would appear that the intent is to have Blush AI continue to operate independently from Second Life using its own revenue stream via in-app purchases. Most particularly, it makes clear that conversation logs, etc., from Second Life will not be used to help train the Blush AI, nor is likely that there be any other connections between Blush AI and Second Life user data.
Obviously, the question remains why make such an acquisition in the first place. Without any direct statement from the Lab, anything relating to this question is pure supposition. On a personal level, I have no strong opinion on; AI tools / entertainment of this nature simply do not interest me at all. So long as the acquisition doesn’t interfere with /detract from the on-going effort to enhance and grow Second Life, which remains the Lab’s bread and butter, then I can happily ignore Blush AI. That said, given that past acquisitions by the Lab haven’t always gone that well (Blocksworld being the only real exception), I will admit to my curiosity being piqued as to how this one progresses and how long it lasts.
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