Imagine this – you're going through a tough time in life and you feel like venting it out to someone. Though you have a lot of friends, this is something you don't want to tell people you know. You want someone who will not judge you based on your past actions.

In China, you can seek this comfort with a virtual chatbot created by Xiaolce. Xiaolce is a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence system that is capable of creating emotional bonds. At present, this chatbot has 660 million users who trust this system. Xiaolce became a hit in China as many people think therapy is necessary but expensive.

As an AI ecosystem, Xiaolce comes incorporated in several Chinese-branded smartphones, similar to virtual assistants like Siri, and in most social media platforms too.

WeChat is a popular messaging app in China. Now users can build virtual partners and interact with them via texts, voice, and photo messages. Once a side project to Microsoft's Cortana, Xiaolce now accounts for 60% of global human-AI interactions by volume.

The intention behind the chatbot is to engage users with an empathetic conversation that satisfies emotional human needs. While the average interaction lasts for 23 messages, it is better than humans in paying undivided attention.

Launched last year, Xiaolce is now valued at over US$1 billion after venture capital fundraising. The same developers have also created virtual idols, AI news anchors, and even virtual university students. The system is highly advanced and capable of composing poems, financial reports, and paintings.