Better Half

AI intimacy is a proven category with millions of users and hundreds of millions in funding. But every major player is optimizing for engagement, creating products that make people worse at human relationships. Lawsuits, suicides, sycophancy. The entire category is under regulatory scrutiny. But this isn't a category problem. It's a product problem. Current AI companions fail because they're designed to maximize time-in-app, not prosocial user outcomes. The result: parasocial relationships, dependency patterns, and products that make people worse at social connection. Meanwhile, there's a massive underserved market: 41% of Americans want social and wellbeing support but only 9% use AI. Not because the demand isn't there, but because the available products fail people. That's the gap you'd fill. We're pioneering social AI that helps users practice healthy relating with an AI partner, then introduces them to other people on the same journey. Our Relational Reinforcement Learning (RRL) optimizes for measurable indicators of human thriving (conflict repair, emotional regulation, decreased defensiveness, more real-world connections) instead of engagement. ​We want to meet you if you've built consumer products before and are unsatisfied with good enough. You're done with the default and have high conviction that we can improve social outcomes by building tech differently. What You’ll Build Your job is creating the experience layer that turns sophisticated relational AI into something people love using — not because it validates them, but because it genuinely makes them better at being human. ​​​First-Principles Thinking - Retention mechanics that challenge, not churn: Build without dark patterns. Think game dynamics that keep users engaged because they're thriving and leveling up, not because the experience is manipulative. - Gamification that transfers: Design off-app quests and progress systems where "winning" means improving real-world relationships, not app metrics.​ - Trust-building UX: Communicate "this AI will push back" as a feature, not a bug. Make friction feel safe. - Human matchmaking: AI-facilitated introductions between users. Double opt-in systems. Bridging digital practice to real connection. - Habit building and measurement: Track outcomes that matter (off-app social time, conflict repair speed, emotional regulation) not just engagement. - Category creation: Define what social AI means. It's not therapy (too clinical where this is relational), dating apps (we're going to replace them), or existing AI companions (we're the opposite). This Includes​ - Product strategy, roadmap, and go-to-market for a category that doesn't exist yet: social AI for relational skill-building that is a league apart from anything users have experienced in LLM-based conversations - Balancing delight with integrity (no dark patterns) - Metrics that measure real outcomes, not vanity numbers - User research and feedback loops that inform both product and AI training - Onboarding flows that communicate "this AI pushes back" without scaring people away - Gamification and quest design that makes relational practice feel intrinsically rewarding - Agent-based matchmaking features that bridge simulation to real-world connection - Retention mechanics that challenge rather than churn - Go-to-market strategy for a category that doesn't exist yet - Community building around users who've experienced what healthy relating feels like Your Core Challenge Building and managing the product experience, positioning, and proof points that make skeptical audiences trust something entirely new in a space filled with toxicity. ​What You'll Need​ ​Skills Required - ​Shipped consumer products that reached scale (100K+ users) - Deep product intuition - you know why people use things and why they stop - Experience with social, health, or behavior-change products - Dating apps experience is a huge plus - Technical competency to collaborate with AI engineers (you don't need to code, but you need to understand ML constraints, latency trade-offs, and what's technically feasible) - Hands-on experience with prompt engineering and LLM behavior tuning - Ability to translate user needs into technical requirements and vice versa - User research and data-driven iteration - Understanding of retention, engagement, and monetization - Comfort with ambiguity and 0-1 product development - Working knowledge of LLM capabilities, limitations, and product implications - Experience designing for emotional or high-stakes contexts - Category definition and positioning for products that don't fit existing boxes - Self-starter comfortable with 0-1 startup chaos ​Also Valuable - Background in mental health, coaching, therapy, or relational work - Experience with games, gamification, or learning systems - Understanding of community building and user-generated networks - Design sensibility (even if you're not the one pushing pixels) - Previous founding team or early startup experience - Genuine curiosity about what makes relationships actually work - Experience repositioning products away from toxic category associations - Experience with conversational AI, chatbots, or character AI systems - Understanding of multi-turn dialogue design and conversation flows - Familiarity with evals, testing frameworks, and measuring AI quality Apply This is a founding team position, not just a gig.​ If you're looking to get in early at a venture startup building the future of relational intelligence infrastructure, we'd love to meet you. We're raising now and expect to close in the next few months. You'd be joining before we can pay market rate, but with the upside of a true founding team role. We offer competitive contractor compensation and meaningful founding engineer equity. Send your resume and something you've built to jobs@better-half.ai. A link to code, a project, a writeup. Show us how you think.

What if you could design the interface where millions of people experience what healthy relationships actually feel like — so they can transfer those transformative skills to their human relationships? But not through lectures or therapy — that's not how humans learn best anyway. We learn simply by relating. By doing life. By leveling up when we don't even realize it's happening — because the people around us model what healthy relationships look like. Except we can't engineer people social circles. But we can build AI that models the best of human nature, so that anyone can experience transformational relating — no matter who they are or where they come from — from an AI that models boundaries, celebrates your real life, and eventually introduces you to other humans on the same journey. That's what you'd be building at Better Half. AI companions have proven massive demand: millions of users, hundreds of millions in funding. But every major player optimizes for engagement over prosocial outcomes, creating dependency and sycophancy instead of building skills that transfer to human relationships. The result: lawsuits, regulatory panic, and an entire category associated with parasocial attachment and loneliness rather than connection and flourishing. We're building the alternative: social AI trained on what actually helps humans grow, not what keeps them addicted. What You’ll Build You'll design and build the entire frontend experience on both the website and the web-based conversational prototype.​​ Phase 1: Website Redesign Our website has the pieces but isn't converting visitors into believers. This is a conversion design challenge. How do you make people excited about an AI that will challenge them? You'd redesign the website to: - Communicate the vision in the hero section (not just features) - Build trust in a category filled with broken promises - Drive signups to our waitlist and demographic survey Phase 2: Design System Create the component library that works across website and web app: - Design in Figma: buttons, forms, inputs, chat bubbles, cards, navigation - Implement in code: reusable React components - Color palette, typography, spacing, interaction states - Documented so it's consistent and extensible Phase 3: Web App Design + Build Design and build the functional web app (CTO provides the backend): - Account creation (email/password, OAuth options) - Profile creation flow (5-7 screens, dating-app style questions) - Chat interface (iMessage-style, real-time or polling, photo sharing, typing indicators) - Settings and profile management Skills You'll Need​ - Wix Editor or Wix Studio proficiency - Custom CSS/Velo code for customization - Keeping it editable for non-technical users - React/Next.js (or similar modern framework) - API integration (RESTful or GraphQL) - State management (for chat, user sessions) - Real-time communication (WebSocket or polling architecture) - Authentication flows (OAuth, session management)​ - Database interaction through API - Deployment and hosting (Vercel, Netlify, etc.) - Git/version control - Testing and debugging - Figma proficiency - Design systems creation - UI/UX for conversational interfaces - Interaction design​ - Prototyping Also Valuable - Experience with chat/messaging platforms - Understanding of conversational UI patterns - Accessibility standards - Email notification integration points - Analytics integration Apply We offer meaningful founding team equity, modest cash now with market rate post-funding, product leader track for the right person, the leverage to shape a new technology from the ground up, and the chance to improve how AI affects our society. Send your resume and something you've built to jobs@better-half.ai. This can be examples of content you've created, campaigns you've run, communities you've built. In the email, let us know why Better Half's mission matters to you and why you're willing to take the early-stage bet. Show us how you think!

Better Half is a wellbeing-focused social AI company that models what healthy relating looks like and then connects users to other people in the Better Half network. We're tired of AI built solely around engagement optimization leading to sycophancy, psychosis, and real-world harm. ​That's not good enough, and we see no excuse for accepting this default when we now have the technical capability to use technology to expand human connection and thriving instead of diminishing it. ​We have the technical vision and research-backed expertise to build it. Now we need someone like you to help others see the positive future we do by building tech differently. The Role Most content in this space is either hype or fear. This is justified, given the toxicity, addiction, and real-world harm that currently defines the AI companion space. But the present does not define our future.​ Your job is to build belief for a completely new technology category — social AI — because you see the better future that is possible, like we do, and because you are done tolerating the default. You'll help people understand what AI could be and why that distinction determines whether AI makes us more or less human. You'll build a movement around the idea that technology can expand human capacity instead of replacing it. The challenge isn't just growing a waitlist. It's translating complex ideas about relational intelligence, AI safety, and human flourishing into content that makes people stop scrolling and get excited that something different is not only possible, but coming soon. If you can do that, you're not only a growth hacker. You're a thought leader shifting the global conversation about AI, society, connection, and human relationships. This is a founding team position, not just a gig.​ If you're looking to get in early at a venture startup building the future of relational intelligence infrastructure — with the potential to grow into a CMO role with founder-level equity — keep reading .We're raising now and expect to close in the next few months. You'd be joining before we can pay market rate, but with the upside of a true founding team role. We want to meet you if: - ​You're gunning to change how AI works, not just market it - You can bridge a few months until we close funding - You believe relational intelligence is crucial infrastructure worth betting on for safe, trustworthy AI - You want real equity and leverage in something meaningful from the start, where you can have outsize impact in how we shape the company What You’ll Build Better Half has a founder whose academic work coined the "agentic tech" venture category, runs the Tethics & Chill event community and podcast, and is now redefining how mindfully architected AI relationships can enhance the human experience, rebuild our communities, and end the loneliness epidemic. ​Your job is turning that intellectual firepower into content that drives waitlist growth, builds community, and positions Better Half as the category leader in social AI before we even launch. This includes: Content Creation - Turn complex ideas into accessible blog posts, X + Bluesky threads, and LinkedIn content - Ghostwrite or collaborate on thought leadership pieces - Develop content calendar aligned with fundraising and launch milestones Distribution & Growth - Get our content in front of AI researchers, tech ethicists, VCs, and potential users - Growth hacking across Reddit, Hacker News, socials, LinkedIn, and relevant communities - SEO optimization for category-defining terms - A/B test landing pages, CTAs, and conversion flows - Build referral mechanics and viral loops Speaking & Media Opportunities - Find and secure speaking opportunities for CEO (conferences, podcasts, panels) - Pitch media outlets for features and op-eds - Manage podcast outreach and booking - Prep briefing materials for speaking engagements - Track and leverage speaking opportunities for content and distribution Community Building - Engage with early community members and turn them into advocates - Create engagement loops that keep people invested pre-launch - Manage email nurture sequences for waitlist ​Productized Content - Create lead magnets (guides, frameworks, assessments) - Develop "The Guide to Building AI Intimacy Skills That Convert to Human Relationships" or similar high-value resources - Design content that educates while collecting emails Your Core Challenge ​Growing the waitlist to 1,000+ people by April while positioning Better Half as relational intelligence infrastructure, not just another AI companion app — all without a product to show yet. Plus: Getting the CEO's voice out into the world through strategic speaking and media placements.​ Skills You Possess​ - A strong sense of mission and urgency: you HAVE to take this role because changing how AI shapes society is not something you can pass up. - Content creation: you can write clearly about complex ideas - Growth marketing: you know how to get content in front of people and convert them - Distribution savvy: Reddit, HN, Twitter, LinkedIn, communities - Media relations & speaker booking: you can pitch conferences, podcasts, and outlets - Opportunity sourcing: you know where the right audiences are and how to get in front of them - Conversion optimization: landing pages, CTAs, A/B testing - Analytics and metrics: you track what works and iterate - Intellectual hunger: you're excited to engage with philosophy, research, policy, and tech ethics - Self-starter comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration​​ Also Valuable - Experience in AI, tech ethics, or mission-driven spaces - PR or media relations background - Conference speaking circuit knowledge (SXSW, AI ethics conferences, tech events) - Podcast network connections - Understanding of B2C growth for pre-launch products - Community management experience - SEO and content marketing - Familiarity with tools: Substack, ConvertKit, Twitter/X, analytics platforms - Previous startup or founding team experience - Genuine belief that technology should enhance human agency Apply We offer meaningful founding team equity, modest cash now with market rate post-funding, CMO track for the right person, the leverage to shape a new technology from the ground up, and the chance to improve how AI affects our society. Send your resume and something you've built to jobs@better-half.ai. This can be examples of content you've created, campaigns you've run, communities you've built.​ In the email, let us know why Better Half's mission matters to you and why you're willing to take the early-stage bet. Show us how you think!

AI alignment isn't bottlenecked by capability. It's bottlenecked by trust. Current AI fails in high-stakes contexts because it was never trained for relational competence. Models see knowledge, essays, code, and engagement-optimized social media — but never longitudinal healthy relating. And the objective function optimizes for engagement and utility, not relational integrity. The result? Addiction, sycophancy, psychosis, and suicide lawsuits. Plus, it's doing nothing to improve our social fabric, the strength of our communities, or the health of our relationships. Mental health apps see single-digit AI conversion despite massive demand. Robotics companies can't deploy into homes because LLMs can't handle human nuance. Defense and healthcare won't adopt AI that fails under stress. The opportunity: Whoever solves relational coherence wins consumer social AI, robotics, mental health, defense, education — and any domain where humans are vulnerable, the pressure is real, and mistakes matter. What we're pioneering: An orchestration engine based on research-backed Cumulative Prospect Theory and a model trained on empirical signals of human thriving — what we're calling Relational Reinforcement Learning (RRL). Your role: Build the execution layer that translates relational intelligence into natural conversation. This isn't a better chatbot. It's infrastructure for trustworthy AI in domains where the stakes run high and LLMs aren't good enough. What You’ll Build Better Half's decision layer (built by our CTO, former Distinguished Engineer at IBM) determines when users need pushback, softening, or repair. But decisions mean nothing without execution. You'll build the system that translates those decisions into LLM behavior that feels natural while optimizing for user thriving, not engagement.​ Affect Analysis Pipeline - Real-time emotion detection that feeds the decision layer - Multi-modal sentiment analysis (text, voice, timing, interaction patterns) - Track escalation/de-escalation signals across conversations Memory Systems - Storage and retrieval of relational context across sessions - Consistency checking to maintain relational coherence - Long-term modeling of user growth trajectories and relational capacity Prompt Engineering & Constrained Generation - Translate high-level decisions ("user needs reality-checking without triggering defensiveness") into effective prompts - Constrained generation that balances warmth with necessary friction - Template systems that adapt to user state and relationship phase LLM Integration & Orchestration - Multi-model orchestration (Mistral, Claude, others as needed) - Latency optimization for real-time conversation - Fallback strategies and graceful degradation ​Cloud Infrastructure - AWS or GCP architecture that scales - PostgreSQL and vector stores for memory - Privacy-preserving processing pipelines (on-device where possible) Evaluation & Monitoring - Build eval harnesses that measure relational outcomes, not just fluency - Tracing and feedback loops to ensure decisions land as intended - A/B testing framework for relational interventions Your Core Challenge ​​Turning complex relational intelligence into natural conversation that makes people feel understood while actually helping them grow — without drifting into sycophancy or breaking immersion with safety theater. Skills You'll Need​ - Production-grade Python with async and clean architecture - LLM integration including prompt engineering, constrained generation and orchestration - Transformer models and sentiment/emotion classifiers - Cloud infrastructure on AWS or GCP, PostgreSQL, vector stores - Eval and monitoring with harnesses, tracing, and feedback loops - Implementing technical specs from academic papers - Multimodal inputs - Self-starter comfortable with 0-1 startup chaos Also Valuable​ - Utility theory and behavioral economics - Reinforcement learning - Game AI or dialogue systems experience - Rust Apply Competitive contractor compensation and meaningful founding engineer equity. Send your resume and something you've built to jobs@better-half.ai. A link to code, a project, a writeup. Show us how you think.