Few, however, have tried to interrogate exactly what AI roleplay is, why it is so popular, and how fictional adventures relate to real-life society. For this piece, I spoke to ten Chinese roleplay enthusiasts, AI researchers, and journalists about the brief history and strange present of AI roleplay. Leading Chinese AI labs, however, are embracing roleplayers with open arms. The move was met with great fanfare from the Chinese AI roleplay community. In early May, its human resources team appeared to have posted a hiring notice for a product manager specializing in “character roleplay and emotional companionship.”