SEATTLE — In an effort to streamline social lives for time-pressed consumers, tech conglomerate Verto announced Tuesday the launch of People+, a subscription service that rents on-demand “authentic friends” to users for staged moments, curated conversations, and platform-optimized companionship.
“People+ leverages Verto’s decade of work in recommendation systems and social-science heuristics to produce the feeling of real friendship without the administrative overhead,” said Verto CEO Marin Cho at a product demo in downtown Seattle. “It’s companionship designed for the schedule-driven modern human.”
People+ subscribers choose from a catalog of profiles — “The Supportive Colleague,” “The Brunch Enthusiast,” “The Mildly Surprised Parent” — each backed by machine-learned personality matrices and regional dialect packs. Basic plans start at $12.99 per month for two 30-minute engagements; premium tiers ($49.99) include weekend brunch simulations, synchronized holidays, and a “deep conversation” module that uses targeted prompts to trigger simulated vulnerability.
Verto’s internal white paper claims early testers experienced a 23.6% increase in social-media engagement and reported feeling “notably less guilty” about not returning texts. A commissioned study by the Institute for Authentic Interaction — a nonprofit funded in part by Verto’s philanthropic arm — found that 78% of participants described People+ interactions as “indistinguishable from actual acquaintances in short-form social settings.” The report’s executive summary was posted on Verto’s blog alongside a FAQ explaining that “authenticity is a solvable optimization problem.”
Privacy advocates raised concerns about data collection practices, noting that People+ profiles receive continuous feedback from your calendar, message metadata, and streaming habits to “improve compatibility.” “They’re harvesting not only who you say you want to be with, but who you think you are when you’re alone,” said Dr. Lena Morales, a digital-ethics researcher at Western Cascadia University. “It’s not just monetizing attention — it’s monetizing comfort.”
Verto says user data stays within its systems and that human performers — employees Verto calls “companions” — undergo training and background checks. When asked whether companions could be shared between users, a spokesperson said, “We discourage dual assignments during the same time block for perceived intimacy reasons; however, companions may be algorithmically reassigned to similar personas across different regions.” Compensation for companions, the company confirmed, is a mix of hourly wages and performance-based bonuses tied to user ratings.
Local reaction ranged from enthusiastic to bemused. “I used to feel weird leaving parties early,” said early adopter Hannah Lin, 29. “Now I schedule a ‘mildly surprised friend’ to notice my departure and say something cute on my feed. It saves me from awkwardness and also boosts my engagement.” Across town, barista Tobias Grant said he declined to try the service because his existing friendships already felt like subscriptions.
Analysts predict rapid market uptake. A Verto investor deck — viewed by multiple outlets — estimated People+ could reach 12 million subscribers and generate $1.8 billion in annual recurring revenue within three years. Venture-backed startups are already pitching complementary tools: an API that syncs People+ conversations with calendar apps and a plugin that auto-generates plausible backstories for friends in case of in-person encounters.
Legal filings accompanying People+ include a 67-page user agreement noting that “companions are independent contractors,” while a separate addendum states that Verto “reserves the right to adjust persona attributes to comply with local social norms.” The company also released a content-creation toolkit enabling users to script friends’ reactions for optimal Instagram reel performance.
When asked whether selling manufactured relationships risked hollowing out real ones, CEO Cho replied, “People+ is not a replacement for human connection. It’s a convenience layer — like having a barista who remembers your order, except the barista also fills the emotional silences in your reels.” At press time, Verto announced a forthcoming beta for “Family Lite,” a paid feature that provides algorithmically appropriate holiday guilt and a motherly thumbs-up emoji for $7.99 a month.