AI companionship does not die so much as split: Character.AI's bankruptcy forecloses the unmoderated engagement model even as new, consciously distanced money backs the category under new branding.
Layers agree the old model is ending; they disagree on whether the category is.
how relationships was measured today
Counted layer · the radar, 229 of 309 sources reporting
Relationships's day ran 10.2 per 100 sources; usual is 10.8
counted 21:00 UTC · per 100 reporting · against 56 stamped days
1 day 10.2 −0.12 sd 3 days 10.8 −1.26 sd 7 days 11.7 −1.59 sd 0 10 20 per 100 reporting · tick = a stamped day 1 day 10.2 −0.12 sd 3 days 10.8 −1.26 sd 7 days 11.7 −1.59 sd 0 10 20 per 100 reporting tick = a stamped day The idea Each window counts the sources a day publishing on relationships, per 100 sources reporting, so a day when more sources report does not read as busier. The signed number is today’s distance from its usual, in standard deviations.
Look for The dot is today; each tick is one of the 56 stamped days before it. The band is the usual range, one standard deviation each side: 32 of 56 days fall in it. All three windows sit below their usual. The numbers -0.12 1 day, in standard deviations
10.2 sources a day per 100, today
10.8 its usual, the mean of 56 days
56 stamped days behind it
Limits It says the volume moved; it does not say why. It counts sources publishing, not a share of all talk. Under 14 stamped days a window reads early, a hollow dot; under 7 it does not print. How it is measured Per 100: sources publishing on the domain in the window, a day, over sources reporting that day, times 100. Usual: the mean of up to 56 stamped days before this sheet, one per scan, this sheet’s own scan left out; the spread is their standard deviation. Deviation: today less the usual, over the spread. src/data/cover-2026-11-02.json counted.domains, scripts/build-cover.py rep_scores.
This is the counted layer: how much the feeds we read published about relationships, per source reporting, against what they usually publish. The story above is the heard layer, written from sources. They are kept apart on purpose.
See every domain on the board .