Why I Built an AI Companion

I’ve been a waiter, a construction worker, a DJ, a kitchen hand, a porter, a caregiver, and a supermarket cashier. I’ve washed dishes in Australia and meditated in the Himalayas. I’ve battled addictions, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and self-destructive behavior. Before I ever sat across from a client as a psychotherapist, I had already lived a dozen lives — and nearly destroyed myself in several of them. My name is Laurentis Theofanus. I was born in Romania. At five years old, my family — refugees — moved to Cyprus. I didn’t grow up with privilege. I grew up with violence and poverty. The kind of childhood where you learn to read a room before you learn to read a book. Where survival isn’t a metaphor — it’s Tuesday. That survival instinct carried me through twenty years of work that had nothing to do with psychology. I stacked shelves. I poured drinks at a nightclub. I mixed concrete on construction sites. I did whatever needed doing. And in the quiet hours between shifts, I