The Founders Peak Podcast · Where exceptional startup founders share untold stories that shaped who they are

Can AI Handle Intimacy? - Season 16 (Japan, Feb 2026)

·12 min·1 clip

When Felix Wong's girlfriend lost her cat, she talked to ChatGPT instead of him because it understood her grief better, sparking his idea for a physical AI companion.

Felix Wong, founder of IMOCA, explores whether AI can handle intimacy, sharing how a NASA astronaut's insight about loneliness in space and his girlfriend's use of ChatGPT for grief led him to build Emoca—an emotional companion robot designed with a three-layer system (soul, heart, body) to combat the global loneliness epidemic. He argues that future tech must prioritize emotional connection over mere efficiency.

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