What if you could choose from millions of AI chatbots to talk to instead of just one?
That’s the concept behind Character.AI, a website and app that offers a pick-and-mix selection of ChatGPT-style bots for users to interact with.
From Vladimir Putin to Einstein to Elon Musk to Mario, a carousel of role-playing chatbots based on fictional characters and actual people, both living and dead, are available on the service. You can ask these bots for advice, get help with research, or just have a laugh with them.
Plus, you can even build your own chatbot for private one-on-one conversations or for others to chat to.
Since the breakout success of ChatGPT last December, a number of challengers have tried to steal its crown. But Character.AI’s playful take on generative AI is helping it to stand out from the crowd.
In May, the service became the second-most popular AI chat website with 281.4 million visits, a 62.5% increase over the previous month, according to data from SimilarWeb.
Here’s what you need to know about Character.AI.
What is Character.AI?
Character.AI is a generative AI startup founded by Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, former Google engineers who built the company’s conversational chatbot technology. Following their departure, a Google staffer claimed the AI project they worked on was sentient.
In September, the pair launched a preview version of Character.AI that allowed people to talk to a facsimile of anyone.
Like ChatGPT, the main service is free to use, but you can pay for perks including quick access during peak hours. Character.AI launched a mobile app for iOS and Android on May 23 just days after OpenAI released the official ChatGPT app.
How to use Character.Ai?
Character.AI is straightforward to use: You just create a free account using either your email or Google or social details, and then you can start chatting to the bots on its database.
Once you sign up, you can find chatbots by searching or by browsing categories such as games, movies and TV, comedy, famous people, and religion.
Once you start chatting, your interactions will be saved in the chats tab on the web and desktop. Some of the bots even generate images to go with their texts.
To make your own bot, just tap “create” and follow the instructions. You’ll be asked to give your character a name, profile photo, description, and be able to choose whether it can generate images. Before you finish, you’ll be able to set the bot as public or private.
However, you should also be aware that chatbots tend to get things wrong. In the tech world, this is known as a hallucination. Or, as the Character.AI website bluntly states: “Everything characters say is made up.”
