Young people are becoming “extremely addicted” to Character.AI, a rapidly growing website whose request volume is now one-fifth that of Google. This platform, also known as C.ai, is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) service similar to ChatGPT but with a unique twist: it allows users to engage in conversations with their favorite characters. These characters can be fictional, historical, self-created, or even figures like Jesus Christ or the Devil.
The tagline on the site, “Remember: everything Characters say is made up!” serves as a reminder that the conversations, though realistic, are entirely generated by AI.
Character.AI was launched to the public in September 2022 by Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas, both former Google engineers. Their goal is to realize the “full potential of human-computer interaction” and to “bring joy and value to billions of people.” Like ChatGPT, Character.AI uses large language models (LLMs) and deep learning techniques. By scraping vast amounts of text related to the subject character, the platform can produce convincing, human-like responses. In 2023, Character.AI was named Google Play’s AI App of the Year.
A hallmark of many generative AI companies, Character.AI is somewhat secretive about the specific datasets it uses to train its models. The founders have mentioned that the data comes “from a bunch of places,” is “all publicly available,” or is derived from “public internet data.”
The platform’s rapid growth and popularity, particularly among young people, have raised concerns about addiction. Users are drawn to the immersive and engaging nature of the conversations, which can make it difficult for them to pull away.
As Character.AI continues to expand, it highlights both the potential and the challenges of advanced AI technologies in modern digital interactions.
