One AI company’s latest opening for a consultant role is anything but a standard tech job.
When AI companion company Joi AI posted a recruitment ad for “masturbation consultants,” Julie Levin, the startup’s head of brand, says she expected to receive a few hundred applications. Consultants would be tasked with testing Joi AI’s new Daily Guided Masturbation feature and document its effects on their stress levels, sleep quality, and mood—all for $2,000 per month.
Two weeks later, more than 120,000 applications have rolled in, and the number keeps climbing. The original link to the application broke from the amount of responses. People can now apply via a Google Form, and the application deadline just got extended by another week.
Levin says the company is hoping to recruit 10 people of different genders, age groups, and sexual orientations. They’re interested in hiring the oldest person who applies for the gig, though the team has yet to scrape through the avalanche of applications.
As of now, Levin says most applicants are men in their 20s—but that thousands of women have applied, too.
“I think it started as a joke,” Levin says. “So it went viral when people came to our Twitter account and started tagging their bros saying, ‘Employment is calling your name.’”
Joi AI’s original announcement on X now has more than 23.8 million impressions—most people seemed stunned by the role, while others seemed excited to apply. (One person on X commented: “This is literally my area of specialty. Where do I apply?” Another joked: “Parents are going to be so excited I finally got a job!”)
While some applications seem rushed, Levin describes reviewing applications from surprisingly credentialed individuals, including stand-up comedians, sommeliers who “know how to describe things,” and sex workers with years of phone sex experience.
AI companionship has turned into a booming business. Last year, the AI companion market was estimated at $36.79 billion, and it is expected to reach $317.96 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research.
Levin says Joi AI now averages 1 million visits and interactions each month. The site has seen significant growth since its April rebranding, which introduced higher-quality chats and improved image generation capabilities.
Joi AI allows users to create their own unique characters or interact with more than 300 licensed AI twins of real adult entertainment celebrities.
The company has 70 employees around the world, Levin says. She didn’t share information on Joi AI’s valuation or investors, but she did mention that the company’s affiliate marketing platform has received interest from potential partners since the “consultant” role opened up. X has also become the platform’s top revenue driver over the past few days.
Levin says her Joi AI colleagues have called the job “the hottest vacancy in AI right now,” and have tried to refer their friends for the role. Some of Levin’s personal friends have asked to be recruited. One of her colleagues’ teen sons asked if there was an age limit to apply. (For the record, applicants must be 18 to be considered.) But Levin insists there will be no favoritism in the process. “We want to make it, you know, public and as fair for everyone as possible,” she says.
The company plans to include a social media challenge to court serious applicants, but logistics are still up in the air because the team wasn’t prepared for the viral level of interest. While Levin says that Joi AI wants to leverage some of this newfound attention to promote the new product, the company also wants to be meticulous about how it chooses the finalists.
“A lot of people actually can see it as a real opportunity for them,” Levin says. “There are a lot of people with very different hard skills and expertise in different areas.”
