Post #3284883

Xbox promised it ~15 years ago, but not just to seniors. Powered by Project Natal (later renamed Kinect, since discontinued) it gave you a little boy named Milo you could interact with. He appeared to be about 8 and he could help with homework and was basically a virtual pet in human form. IIRC they quietly announced you could choose a girl as well, but she was never shown (I wonder why /s) or named. The game/software never released. I’m not sure if the build they showed was ever leaked or not or even if it was a real thing or not. The child AI idea predates that. _Sword Art Online_ had Yui, and _.hack_ had Aura, though she was catatonic for most of the first season. There was also Spielberg’s _AI: Artificial Intelligence_ in 2001. Going back way further, _Small Wonder_ on TV. The little robot girl from the 1970s or 1980s. Probably many more. These days, it would probably be a phone app. Like a virtual assistant like Siri. It could be a child of either gender or neither (agender) or it could be an anthropomorphic animal, like a furry, or the villagers you meet in *Animal Crossing*. It also doesn’t have to be young and cute. You could get Master Splinter from _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_, for example. Not saying it’s a good thing, just that it wouldn’t necessarily look like a child and it doesn’t have to be a robot.