Creating your companion from a photo: what the law forbids, and everything still allowed.

Can you create an AI girlfriend from a photo?

With a photo of a real person, without her consent: no. In the United States, the UK, Canada and Australia, the law punishes sharing sexual content made by AI from someone's image, and that is why almost no AI girlfriend service will let you send it a face. With an image that shows no real person, a few services allow it, for specific uses.

As far as we know, only one service builds a companion from images you send it, and it refuses, by design, to copy a face. If you want to create your own AI girlfriend, the others offer something better than a copy: dozens of settings for her looks, personality, voice and story. Here is where the line runs, then everything you can do on this side of it.

What does the law say about sexual deepfakes?

It depends on where you live, but the line is close to the same in the main English-speaking countries: sharing sexual content that AI generated from a real person's image, without her consent, is a crime. What changes from one country to the next is the penalty, and whether making it alone is already an offense.

It makes no difference who she is: an ex, a coworker, a neighbor, a stranger on Instagram, an actress. Being famous does not replace consent.

And if the image never leaves your screen? In England and Wales, and in the Australian state of New South Wales, making it is already an offense. At the federal level in the United States, Canada and Australia, the law targets sharing, and bills keep pushing the rules tighter. Here is where things stand:

• United States. The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act of May 2025 punishes knowingly publishing a digital forgery of an identifiable adult without consent, when it is meant to cause harm or does cause it: up to two years in prison, and 18 months for threatening to publish. Since May 19, 2026, platforms must also remove reported images within 48 hours. Most states add their own laws.
• United Kingdom. In England and Wales, sharing such an image without consent is an offense, with up to two years in prison in the most serious cases. Since February 6, 2026, creating one is an offense too, even if you never show it to anyone, and so is asking someone else to make it.
• Canada. Since July 18, 2026, the Criminal Code expressly covers images made with AI software. Publishing or sharing one without consent, or threatening to, carries up to ten years in prison.
• Australia. Sending or publishing sexual material of an adult online without consent, AI-made included, carries up to six years in prison, and seven if you also created it.
• Ireland. Coco's Law punishes sharing an intimate image without consent, or threatening to, with up to seven years in prison. The government says it already covers AI-altered images, and bills that would also punish creating them are before parliament.
• European Union. From December 2, 2026, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 bans AI systems that generate realistic images, videos or audio of an identifiable person's intimate parts or sexual activity without her explicit consent, unless they have adequate safeguards. The risk weighs on the services too, which explains what follows.

Why do so few services accept a photo?

Because a service that accepts a face takes the risk of generating sexual content without that person's consent. OurDream says so plainly: no reference photos, because of deepfakes, and that includes your own. Lovescape AI rules out photo uploads, apart from your account avatar. JOI bans members from uploading content: only identified creators may do so, under contract.

The character builders at Candy AI, Get Harder, Kupid AI, My Dream Companion, Swipey AI, Xotic AI, DreamGF and eHentai, from what we have documented, work through choices and text.

Describing a real person in words doesn't get around any of this. Xotic checks what you write before the image step and blocks characters based on real people. JOI also filters requests that describe an identifiable person. Candy AI announces zero tolerance for images meant to resemble real people, and DreamGF and eHentai delete anything that does. Penalties range from removed content to a closed account, and GoLove AI warns that it may report cases to the authorities.

Which services accept an image, and what for?

Three uses exist, all with guardrails, and none of them is for copying anyone.

• Creating an original companion: GoLove AI. It is the only builder of this kind we have found, on the Ultra plan, still in testing. You send up to five images, the AI turns them into a written description, and the companion is made from that text, without the generator ever seeing your images. GoLove warns that she will not look like any specific person. You must confirm that you have the right to use those images, and each upload goes through an automatic check that rejects celebrities.
• Guiding a photo: Secrets AI and DarLink AI. The image studio at Secrets AI accepts up to five reference photos, and DarLink advertises a Custom Face option and image uploads to guide the AI. Both tools produce an image, not a companion, and the legal limits don't move.
• Animating an image: MyLovely AI. The video tool at MyLovely AI starts from an attached photo. Its terms ban deepfakes of real people without their explicit consent.

What if you want a real woman's face?

There is a legal route: the one where she signed. Four services offer AI twins of real creators, with their consent: JustSext, Candy AI, Swipey AI and JOI.

JustSext is built on this and advertises 53 licensed creators, paid for every conversation. You don't create a companion there: you adjust the twin for yourself alone in the chat, with 14 personalities, 12 tones and 9 relationship types. Candy AI has its Candy Creators, made with the creators' consent. Swipey AI advertises its Verified Creator Models, made under contract after an identity check, and JOI its official digital doubles.

What can you set when you create your companion?

Almost everywhere: origin, age, body type, hair, eyes, personality, job and her relationship to you. Guided builders run from four steps at Kupid AI and Swipey AI to eight at JOI and Lovescape AI. Get Harder, Lovescape AI, OurDream, JOI, MyLovely AI and Secrets AI can also start from a free-text description. And if choosing wears you out, Xotic AI fills in everything with one click. The differences then come down to five things.

• Looks. OurDream has one of the most detailed builders we have seen, with ten origins, including elf, alien and demon. Secrets AI adds a custom option at almost every step, then 500 characters for dimples and tattoos. Xotic AI offers twelve hairstyles and eleven hair colors, DreamGF sets the scene among some sixty locations, and My Dream Companion records the traits that must not change.
• Personality. GoLove AI advertises more than 40 personalities, 135 jobs and 29 relationship types. JOI combines 16 personalities and 17 jobs. Swipey AI pairs each of its seven personalities with a spice level from one to five hearts, and Xotic AI offers about 88 fantasy themes.
• Voice. You choose it by ear: about a hundred voices at Secrets AI, filtered by accent and style, 19 advertised by GoLove AI, 13 at Xotic AI, 10 at eHentai.
• Story. Lovescape AI gives you 4,000 characters to tell it, Xotic AI 2,000 plus a greeting, and Swipey AI offers five scenarios drawn from your choices. My Dream Companion keeps your texts in long-term memory.
• What she knows about you. Candy AI, OurDream and Secrets AI keep a profile of you, chosen per conversation. DreamGF and eHentai give you 500 characters to introduce yourself.

Can you create a companion for free, and what does it cost?

Yes, at eight services: seven give you one companion and one lets you create freely. The rest use an in-app currency or a plan. In parentheses, the price of one month on the entry plan, recorded between September 26 and October 16, 2026: check it before you pay.

• One companion free. Candy AI (€9.99 the first month, then €13.99), GoLove AI (€13.99, or €49.99 for the Ultra plan and its creations from images), Get Harder ($19.99 the first month, then $39.99), Kupid AI (€12.99 a week), My Dream Companion ($11.99), MyLovely AI ($19.99) and Secrets AI ($19.99). One each: additional ones cost extra.
• Free creation. Lovescape AI ($19.99) lets you create without paying, after signing up, according to its help center.
• Pay per creation. OurDream ($19.99) charges 5 DreamCoins per companion and advertises 55 free DreamCoins, so eleven creations at most. Xotic AI (€24.99) takes 50 XOT out of your 200 welcome XOT, and the same again for each regeneration. DarLink ($12.99) lists 2 coins per creation, or 3 in Realistic V2. JOI ($13.99) lets you build and start over for free, then charges 500 Neurons to bring to life the one you keep. Swipey AI (€0.67 a day) creates her for 15 Hearts, but talking to her requires Premium.
• Included in the plan. DreamGF ($12.99 the first month, then $25.98) and eHentai ($12.99 the first month, then $25.99), at 5 tokens per creation.

In practice: where do you start?

An invented companion has no one's face, and creating her takes nothing from anyone. All that's left is finding the tool that suits you.

• You want to decide everything. OurDream, Secrets AI and Xotic AI are among the most detailed builders.
• You like to write. Lovescape AI and Xotic AI let you tell her story.
• You want to judge before paying. One free companion is enough to see what a builder is worth.
• You have a look in mind. A look, not a person: describe it point by point, or use GoLove AI with images that show no one without their consent.
• You dream of a real woman. Choose a licensed AI twin: she said yes.