COMPANION CURATOR — AI COMPANION MARKET EVIDENCE
README version: market-evidence-readme-v4
Assessment date: 2026-08-10

SUGGESTED CITATION
Companion Curator, "AI companion market evidence snapshot," assessed 2026-08-10, https://companioncurator.com/research/ai-companion-market-evidence/

CANONICAL FILES
Research page: https://companioncurator.com/research/ai-companion-market-evidence/
Complete nested JSON: https://companioncurator.com/data/ai-companion-market-evidence.json
Flat product-by-platform CSV: https://companioncurator.com/data/ai-companion-platform-delivery.csv
Flat free-access-program CSV: https://companioncurator.com/data/ai-companion-free-access.csv
Flat product-by-account-control CSV: https://companioncurator.com/data/ai-companion-account-controls.csv
Attribution-ready open/try/leave SVG: https://companioncurator.com/data/ai-companion-open-try-leave.svg
Frictionless Data Package descriptor: https://companioncurator.com/data/datapackage.json

SCOPE
Tracked public profiles: 17
Complete market inventory: no
Representative sample: no
Ranked winners: 0
Tested cancellation, deletion, export, refund, or erasure outcomes: 0

HEADLINE EVIDENCE COVERAGE
Browser access documented: 16 of 17 profiles
Operator-linked app-store install documented: 9 of 17 profiles
Free-access records: 18 across 15 profiles
No-card start documented: 2 of 18 free-access records
Self-service cancellation documented: 15 of 17 profiles
Self-service account deletion documented: 11 of 17 profiles
Any data-export route documented: 11 of 17 profiles

HOW TO INTERPRET THESE FILES
- Counts describe evidence coverage inside Companion Curator's tracked catalog, not market share.
- Access paths and free-start attributes can overlap; do not add their rows together.
- App-store distribution does not establish native implementation, feature parity, or performance.
- A documented instruction is not a completed cancellation, deletion, export, refund, or erasure test.
- Unknown or conflicting evidence remains unresolved; it is not converted into a negative claim.
- JSON preserves the complete nested snapshot. The platform CSV uses one product-and-platform row; the free-access CSV uses one program row plus one explicit assessment row for each tracked profile without a qualifying program; the account-control CSV uses one product row.

LIMITATIONS
- This snapshot covers Companion Curator's tracked catalog, not every AI companion product or a representative market sample.
- A documented path is a checked source record, not a completed installation, signup, cancellation, deletion, export, refund, privacy, security, or parity test.
- Missing, unknown, conflicting, or stale evidence does not prove a feature, route, policy, or product is absent or unsafe.
- Counts are evidence-coverage facts, not product rankings, quality scores, market share, popularity, recommendations, or winners.
- Free access, prices, policies, stores, and product behavior can change; use the assessment and refresh dates before relying on a row.

REUSE NOTE
Keep the assessment date, tracked-catalog denominator, canonical research-page link, and limitations attached to any quoted finding. The Data Package descriptor adds machine-readable file metadata and integrity hashes. This README provides citation guidance; neither file grants a separate data license.