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Razer Seems Even More Confused About Its 'AI Waifu' Than the Rest of Us
https://gizmodo.com/razer-seems-even-more-confused-about-its-ai-waifu-than-the-rest-of-us-2000712483Razer Seems Even More Confused About Its ‘AI Waifu’ Than the Rest of Us
Razer doesn't know exactly what it's creating, but it still wants you to put money down on its desktop AI gadget.
By Kyle Barr
Published January 21, 2026
PC and peripherals maker Razer believes that somebody, somewhere, is desperate to put an anime cat girl on their desk, like their personal imprisoned Tinkerbell who’s forced to compliment them on command. The company’s Project Ava includes either a female waifu or male husbando hologram housed inside a glass jar that uses conversational AI to talk to users. The thing is, Razer doesn’t know when it will be out, or—apparently—much else about this device it promises will be an actual product.
We went hands-on with Project Ava during CES 2026. It’s stuffed with technology we’ve seen before—namely, an animated avatar and AI chatbot that’s meant to act as a player’s gaming mentor and desktop companion. Razer is mostly known for its PC gaming laptops, mice, and headsets, but it often goes to CES with a fair few concept devices in tow; hence Ava’s “Project” nomenclature. In this case, Razer swore to consumers that Project Ava and its other AI gadget—a pair of headphones with cameras and AI visual capabilities called Project Motoko—would become real products… eventually.
During an interview on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Razer’s co-founder and CEO, Min-Liang Tan, couldn’t offer many specifics about what’s going on with its waifu in a jar, nor much about how people can buy it. Project Ava is currently open for “reservations” that cost $20. Those reservations will eventually become preorders with a promised, though vague, release date in the second half of 2026. At the same time, Tan said they were still getting feedback and “hear[ing] what the concerns are.” And there certainly are concerns, considering we’ve yet to see an AI-centric gadget accomplish anything our existing products couldn’t already do.
What’s more, Razer hasn’t settled on what’s actually going on inside its AI companion device. Tan said, “We have not disclosed the actual specs of the product, and not even, for example, which character models, or even which model it’s gonna be running at this point in time. We’re leaving that absolutely open.” Razer previously told Gizmodo it was working with esports stars to potentially stick their mugs and voices in the jar. Hopefully, it’s comfortable with the new parasocial relationships consumers will naturally create with their likeness.
-snip-
Razer doesn't know exactly what it's creating, but it still wants you to put money down on its desktop AI gadget.
By Kyle Barr
Published January 21, 2026
PC and peripherals maker Razer believes that somebody, somewhere, is desperate to put an anime cat girl on their desk, like their personal imprisoned Tinkerbell who’s forced to compliment them on command. The company’s Project Ava includes either a female waifu or male husbando hologram housed inside a glass jar that uses conversational AI to talk to users. The thing is, Razer doesn’t know when it will be out, or—apparently—much else about this device it promises will be an actual product.
We went hands-on with Project Ava during CES 2026. It’s stuffed with technology we’ve seen before—namely, an animated avatar and AI chatbot that’s meant to act as a player’s gaming mentor and desktop companion. Razer is mostly known for its PC gaming laptops, mice, and headsets, but it often goes to CES with a fair few concept devices in tow; hence Ava’s “Project” nomenclature. In this case, Razer swore to consumers that Project Ava and its other AI gadget—a pair of headphones with cameras and AI visual capabilities called Project Motoko—would become real products… eventually.
During an interview on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Razer’s co-founder and CEO, Min-Liang Tan, couldn’t offer many specifics about what’s going on with its waifu in a jar, nor much about how people can buy it. Project Ava is currently open for “reservations” that cost $20. Those reservations will eventually become preorders with a promised, though vague, release date in the second half of 2026. At the same time, Tan said they were still getting feedback and “hear[ing] what the concerns are.” And there certainly are concerns, considering we’ve yet to see an AI-centric gadget accomplish anything our existing products couldn’t already do.
What’s more, Razer hasn’t settled on what’s actually going on inside its AI companion device. Tan said, “We have not disclosed the actual specs of the product, and not even, for example, which character models, or even which model it’s gonna be running at this point in time. We’re leaving that absolutely open.” Razer previously told Gizmodo it was working with esports stars to potentially stick their mugs and voices in the jar. Hopefully, it’s comfortable with the new parasocial relationships consumers will naturally create with their likeness.
-snip-
That podcast is here:
https://www.theverge.com/podcast/863361/razer-ceo-min-liang-tan-ces-2026-ai-gaming-project-ava-interview
And from that page:
Razer is obviously best known for making mice, keyboards, and gaming PCs in its signature black and bright green, with a smattering of RGB LEDs to set everything off. But the company always makes splashy announcements at CES, and this year was no different — and along with the hype, there was plenty of controversy.
This year, Razer earned those splashy headlines and more than a little controversy for something it calls Project Ava, an AI companion that has a physical presence in the real world as an anime hologram that sits in a jar on your desk. Ava is powered by, you guessed it, Elon Musk’s Grok.
-snip-
I really wanted to know if Min and Razer had really thought through the implications of building AI companions, after a string of stories detailing the mental health issues chatbots have caused for so many people. And of course, I wanted to know why Min and Razer had chosen Grok, which is facing outrage around the world for allowing users to create deepfaked pornographic images of real women and children.
Min says they chose Grok for its conversational capabilities. But he was also not very convinced by the notion that products like this always end up being turned into creepy sexual objects, despite an entire year of headlines about AI psychosis and people turning chatbots into romantic partners.
-snip-
This year, Razer earned those splashy headlines and more than a little controversy for something it calls Project Ava, an AI companion that has a physical presence in the real world as an anime hologram that sits in a jar on your desk. Ava is powered by, you guessed it, Elon Musk’s Grok.
-snip-
I really wanted to know if Min and Razer had really thought through the implications of building AI companions, after a string of stories detailing the mental health issues chatbots have caused for so many people. And of course, I wanted to know why Min and Razer had chosen Grok, which is facing outrage around the world for allowing users to create deepfaked pornographic images of real women and children.
Min says they chose Grok for its conversational capabilities. But he was also not very convinced by the notion that products like this always end up being turned into creepy sexual objects, despite an entire year of headlines about AI psychosis and people turning chatbots into romantic partners.
-snip-
More text, and audio of the podcast, at that 2nd link.
Razer Seems Even More Confused About Its 'AI Waifu' Than the Rest of Us https://gizmodo.com/razer-seems-even-more-confused-about-its-ai-waifu-than-the-rest-of-us-2000712483
— Gizmodo (@gizmodo.com) 2026-01-21T16:11:54.185Z
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I don't want to be "friends" with that, it looks...creepy 