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An AI Company Apparently Inspired by ‘the Sims’ Wants to Revolutionize Public Opinion Research

An AI Company Apparently Inspired by ‘the Sims’ Wants to Revolutionize Public Opinion Research

The reputation of public opinion polls is not in a good place right now—or at least it wasn’t right before the 2024 election, and it’s hard to imagine the situation has improved much. A new company recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal is asking the bold question, hey, what if we just replaced all that with AI?

It’s called Simile, and it was just awarded $100 million in venture capital from Index Ventures, the Journal says.

According to its website, Simile claims to be “developing a foundation model that predicts human behavior in any situation, at any scale.”

The company’s co-founder and CEO, Joon Park, told the Journal how this works in a little more detail. Apparently AI agents are trained on chat-style interviews with actual people, at which point the agents become “digital twins” or “digital clones” of their human counterparts. Actual data from people’s behaviors and consumer habits are added to make sure the clones are accurate. Then, market insights can then be derived—ostensibly at least—by having market researchers talk to or poll those “clones.” 

Simile customers are allowed to, as the Journal puts it, “ask infinite questions of their AI people.”

This AI people idea may sound a little familiar.

 

There is a famous simulation of consumerism—actually intended to be a parody of consumerism, its creator would later explain to the New Yorker. It’s called the Sims, and it’s a video game that simulates quotidian reality.

While the Sims is not mentioned in the Journal’s story about Simile, it’s no secret that Simile took inspiration from it. A research paper from 2023, co-authored by Park, is about an effort to simulate human behavior. “We instantiate generative agents to populate an interactive sandbox environment inspired by The Sims, where end users can interact with a small town of twenty five agents using natural language,” the paper’s abstract says.

The agents in the paper have overarching desires, and interact with one another without being on rails. The paper provides the following sample conversation that occurs at a grocery store inside the simulation:

Sam: Hey Tom, how’s it going?
Tom: Good, thanks. What’s up?
Sam: Well, I wanted to talk to you about something. I’m actually running for mayor in the upcoming local election.
Tom: Really? That’s great news! Why are you running?
Sam: I’ve been involved in local politics for years now, and I really feel like I can make a difference in our community. Plus, I want to bring new ideas and perspectives to the table.

A CVS executive named Sri Narasimhan—job title: “vice president of enterprise customer experience and insights“—has been interacting with Simile’s simulated people according to the Journal, and says the tool is “a really big unlock for us,” and that, “It’s not like I have to stop with how many questions I asked. There’s no fatigue.”

For instance, in the Journal’s telling, Narasimhan has been quizzing simulated people about pet medicine, “finding that people don’t consider giving their pets medication a chore.” Huge if true. 

Nonetheless, apparently, CVS is about to scale up its “roster” to one hundred thousand simulated people, and query them on “store layouts and new product designs.”

Simile also has a partnership with Gallup—designed to simulate the experience of asking a policy question to a large group. On its website, there’s a sample of what this is supposed to look like once it works: essentially a chatbot prompting window with the words “What should I ask the group?” in gray font over the text entry field. “Model decisions against real-world sentiment — transparent, replicable, and empirically validated,” the page offers.

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#Company #Apparently #Inspired #Sims #Revolutionize #Public #Opinion #Research

Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you don’t keep up with the latest trends.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

Drab.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creators today

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter D appears twice.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter D.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today’s Wordle is…

DOWDY

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

#Wordle #today #answer #hints">Wordle today: The answer and hints for May 13, 2026
                                            
                                                            Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you don’t keep up with the latest trends.If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
        SEE ALSO:
        
            Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable
            
        
    

        SEE ALSO:
        
            NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 13, 2026
            
        
    
Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.What’s the best Wordle starting word?The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.What happened to the Wordle archive?The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers. Is Wordle getting harder?It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
        SEE ALSO:
        
            NYT Pips hints, answers for May 13, 2026
            
        
    
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:Drab.
        
            Mashable Top Stories
        
        
    
Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creators todayDoes today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?The letter D appears twice.Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…Today’s Wordle starts with the letter D.
        SEE ALSO:
        
            Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL.
            
        
    
The Wordle answer today is…Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.Drumroll please!The solution to today’s Wordle is…DOWDYDon’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

                    
                                            
                            
                        
                                    #Wordle #today #answer #hints

Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you don’t keep up with the latest trends.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

Drab.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creators today

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter D appears twice.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter D.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today’s Wordle is…

DOWDY

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

#Wordle #today #answer #hints">Wordle today: The answer and hints for May 13, 2026

Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you don’t keep up with the latest trends.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

Drab.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creators today

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter D appears twice.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter D.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today’s Wordle is…

DOWDY

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

#Wordle #today #answer #hints

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