Melissa Blake
Senior Editor · AI Companion Platforms · Amsterdam
In one paragraph
Melissa Blake edits and writes about AI companion apps, roleplay chat platforms, and consumer AI tools. She has followed the category since 2022, before it settled into freemium tiers and bring-your-own-key setups, and she runs the editorial side of chubai.io. The main Chub AI access page, the methodology and the editorial policy are all hers.
What she covers
Her beat is the consumer end of AI companions: the products people actually sign up to, pay for, and argue about on Reddit. Somewhere around forty platforms sit inside her active window, Character.AI, Janitor AI, SpicyChat, CrushOn AI, Candy AI, Kindroid, Replika, Nomi and Chub among them. Writing about Chub with the rest of the field in view is what keeps the comparisons on this site honest rather than isolated.
Why Chub gets its own site
Most platforms are one URL and one app. Chub is a main site, a separate chat subdomain, a docs subdomain, an open code organisation under a different name, two removed mobile apps, and a status page you need when the servers fall over. That sprawl, plus a steady stream of fake APKs and mirror domains, is exactly the kind of access problem worth a dedicated resource. The reasoning is laid out on the about page.
How she works
Observation happens on the live public product, from a real account, long enough to see how a platform behaves in week two rather than at signup. Claims about pricing, models or gate behaviour are checked against the current build before publishing, not carried forward from an old draft. Where a claim rests on outside research or someone else’s work, it is attributed inline with its source. The full method is on the methodology page.
What she does not do
No sponsored coverage, no advance sight of critical material for the platform, and no coverage of a product she holds an undisclosed interest in. If any of that changed, the editorial policy page is where it would be recorded first.
Contact
The channel for corrections, correction requests and press notes is LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melissablake1. Corrections are handled quickly and logged under the editorial policy.
A note on time zones
Melissa is based in Amsterdam, which matters for one thing: any comment on when Chub’s servers are busiest is anchored to Central European Time unless stated otherwise, and where timing would read differently elsewhere it is given in UTC.
Under her byline here
- The main Chub AI access page, which covers official links, the app situation, pricing, status and alternatives.
- The methodology page, on how the site is sourced and kept current.
- The editorial policy, on independence, money and corrections.
- The about page, on what chubai.io is and who runs it.
The site’s legal and safety pages, the privacy policy, terms of service, age verification and § 2257 statement, are maintained under the same editorial standard.
Profile last updated: July 12, 2026