Meeno is in TIME 👀
“Andrew, a 21 year old college senior, needed advice. Recently, he’d been spending more time alone with his friend, but he was beginning to develop romantic feelings for her. He felt he was in a state of limbo, and wanted to take the next step, but found it hard to push himself out of his comfort zone. He tried asking his roommates for help, but they gave conflicting counsel, then proceeded to argue over who was right. Most of his friends are in fraternities and he says they were unlikely to offer tender, thoughtful guidance he was looking for. At a loss, Andrew, who is being referred to by his middle name out of concern for his employment, decided to try something new—asking AI for advice.
Meeno, the AI relationship coach that Andrew consulted, didn’t suggest anything groundbreaking. But just the process of chatting with the app, and reading advice on the screen that confirmed his own instinct to confess his feelings, gave Andrew the confidence he needed.
“I kind of use it as a mentor,” says Andrew. “When I need help, I can reach [for] it. It's not going to be affecting all facets of my life. But when I do have a social situation that I feel uncomfortable or indecisive when trying to figure out what to do, I think Meeno would be a great way to solve that.”
Renate Nyborg, 38, says she founded Meeno in November 2022 to try and address the increase in loneliness among young people, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Users can consult Meeno about any relationship—friends, colleagues, parents—not just romantic partners. “This generation was lacking even basic social skills, because they spent two years at home staring at screens not being able to pick up basic body language. The conclusion for me was really that this wasn't really a clinical problem. This wasn't depression. It was actually just not having learned to speak a language,” says Nyborg, who was previously the CEO of Tinder. “It's a skill that you can learn, but if you haven't had the chance to practice it, then you don't know how to do it.”