It’s clear that right now there’s an urgent need to churn out niche AI tools. But for which niche? Well, for erotica, of course! Because there’s just a goldmine of money here. However, creating ready-made erotic content isn’t the most interesting part. This startup took a different approach and really engaged its users. Although the mechanics are simple, they can be applied in many other areas.
The essence of the project
Pirr offers the freedom to indulge in your erotic fantasies by using the Pirr app with a built-in AI that can craft erotic stories.
But no — it’s not just a simple library of erotic tales. The catch is that the Pirr AI helps people compose their own erotic stories on topics that genuinely excite them.
You can write these stories alone for your own pleasure. You can co-write them with other users. And you can also peek into the erotic fantasies of others.
The Pirr AI works as a co-author. The user writes the first paragraph, presses a button, and Pirr writes the next one.
In theory, you can keep pressing the button indefinitely, and Pirr will continue the story on its own. However, at any time, the user can intervene and write a segment that will take the unfolding story in a specific direction — and then Pirr will continue developing it in that chosen direction.
Not only the Pirr AI can continue the story. The story’s initiator can invite other users, and they will write the next segments. Meanwhile, the participants can also press the button to have the AI craft the next piece — if they lack time or imagination to continue the story themselves.
All stories with a public status assigned by the initiators are visible to other users in their personal feeds. These feeds are curated by the Pirr AI, tailoring to the tastes of each user.
A user can request the initiator to invite them to a story seen in the feed — allowing them to participate in its creation or simply observe the plot’s progression.
The founders of Pirr believe that their app “contributes to positive changes in the lives of individuals and society as a whole, because satisfying lust is a matter of health and gender equality.”
Pirr is currently operating in a free mode because, according to its founders, it is a minimum viable product. They plan to introduce monetization closer to the end of the year when the minimal product will evolve into a more comprehensive platform. Indeed, it’s evident that there’s a lack of simple features like pictures or even short videos that AI can now produce 😉
Pirr has already amassed 150,000 users, who spend an average of 22 minutes per app visit. During this time, they read and participate in creating stories, rather than just “logging in and out.”
Pirr originates from Sweden. They’ve raised an additional $430,000 in investments on top of the $210,000 in seed investments received a year and a half ago, and a small grant from a year ago.
What’s interesting
The topic of sex and erotica is considered by many to be either shameful or not serious enough to launch startups on. However, there’s definitely money in this area.
For instance, Pornhub’s revenue in 2021 was $97 billion annually, and it has likely grown even more by now.
Onlyfans’ revenue in 2022 exceeded $1 billion. This is just the 20% they earn as commissions from the total turnover on their platform.
The beauty of erotic AI is that regular AI chats can’t afford to engage users on this topic. For example, when I asked ChatGPT to tell an erotic story, it replied that it couldn’t fulfill such a request because it violates their content policy.
So, among all niches where specialized AI assistants can and should be created, the sex and erotica niche is perhaps the largest. Moreover, it’s a niche that generic public AI machines are unlikely to venture into.
Interestingly, Pirr decided to use the erotic AI machine not as a tool to generate a library of ready-made content – which might be the obvious first thought – but as a co-author helping users create their own content.
The issue is that pre-made content doesn’t always cater to the tastes and desires of a specific person. This becomes critical in the realm of sex and erotica, as individuals seek physical pleasure from such content 😉. It’s much harder to achieve when consuming content that doesn’t particularly excite you. Using AI machines solves this problem as they can instantly produce content that best matches a person’s tastes and current mood.
Furthermore, personal involvement in any process increases user engagement and retention. It’s challenging to abandon something you’ve invested time and effort into. Each of us knows this from our startups, which we often don’t give up on for this reason, even if their initial idea doesn’t take off.
The founders of Pirr believe that with their application they “contribute to positive changes in the lives of individuals and society as a whole, because satisfying lust is a matter of health and gender equality.”
Pirr currently operates in a free mode because, according to its founders, it represents a minimum viable product. They plan to introduce monetization closer to the end of the year when the minimum product becomes a more comprehensive platform. Yes, it clearly lacks simple improvements like images or even short videos that AI can already create 😉
Pirr has already attracted 150,000 users who, on average, spend 22 minutes per app visit since they read and participate in story creation, rather than just “log in and out.”
Pirr is originally from Sweden. They have now raised $430,000 in investments in addition to the $210,000 in seed investments received one and a half years ago, and a small grant from a year ago.
What’s Interesting
The topic of sex and erotica is often considered either shameful or not serious enough to start startups in this area. Though there’s definitely money in it.
Pornhub’s revenue, for instance, was $97 billion in 2021, and it has probably grown even more since then.
Onlyfans’ revenue in 2022 exceeded $1 billion — and that’s just the 20% they get as commissions from the total turnover on the platform.
The beauty of erotic AI is that regular AI chats can’t afford to interact with users on this topic. ChatGPT, for example, when asked to tell an erotic story, replied that it couldn’t fulfill that request due to their content policy.
So among all the niches in which specialized AI assistants can and should be created, the sex and erotica niche is not only, perhaps, the largest — but also the one that universal public AI machines are unlikely to venture into.
Interestingly, Pirr decided to use the erotic AI machine not as a tool for generating a content library, which comes to mind first — but as a co-author helping users create their own content.
The problem is that ready-made content on any topic doesn’t always match the tastes and desires of a specific person. But in the topic of sex and erotica, this becomes critical since a person wants to get literal physical pleasure from such content 😉 It’s much harder to achieve by reading or watching something that doesn’t really turn you on. Using AI machines solves this problem as they can instantly create content that best fits a person’s tastes and mood at the moment.
Moreover, personal involvement in any process increases user engagement and enhances retention. After all, it’s hard to give up something you’ve invested time and effort in. Each of us knows this from our startups, which we often don’t abandon for this very reason, even if their idea isn’t taking off.
What’s also interesting is that Pirr has not only focused on creating personalized content but also on building a community. After all, several people can participate in the creation of stories. People can first passively watch other people’s stories and then can’t resist and also participate in them. Perhaps over time, there will be a tool for cloning stories — where you can copy an exciting piece of someone else’s story to create your version of its development.
In general, Pirr could become the “GitHub for erotic stories” 😉. And eventually, in any format — images, comics (manga), videos. And what is GitHub if not a community?
Its fundamental difference from “chatterboxes” (general chats), which are usually considered communities, is that GitHub is a place for collaborative creation of things useful for community members. As a result, the number of members of this community, its activity, and the duration of retaining its members significantly exceed the indicators of communities just “to chat.”
Where to Go
From Here There are two possible directions based on today’s review, and they are perpendicular to each other.
The first direction is the creation of AI platforms in the theme of sex and erotica.
The most exciting part here is not even the generation of ready-made content but the possibility of creating personalized and/or interactive content. Custom stories, chatbots with different personalities and various sexual biases, or both together.
The second direction is the creation of platforms for communities where AI acts as a co-author, initiator, or facilitator. The AI’s task should be to continuously provide community members with new content — initiating, continuing, reacting, and prompting.
The problem with most communities is the low activity of their members. Because 90% of people are just ready to consume, 9% join someone else’s activity, and only 1% take the initiative. As a result, communities generate little new content, and users drop off.
If only people could write stories in Pirr — there would hardly be 150,000 users, and they wouldn’t spend an average of 22 minutes per visit. However, I would give their AI machine even more rights — to start new stories and suggest users continue them, continue started stories independently if the participants of the story haven’t been involved for a long time, and so on.
Both directions are interesting in their own way. But both are promising! Because both use the key change that is happening right now — the development of AI technologies, which will inevitably lead to the creation of new products in these areas.
The only question is, will they be someone else’s products or yours? 😉
About the Company
Pirr
Website: pirr.me
Latest round: $430K, October 25, 2023
Total investments: $721K, rounds: 3