Character.AI
In plain wordsA popular app where people chat with AI characters — invented personas, fictional figures or imitations of real people — that other users have created.
An American consumer service on which users create and converse with chatbotchatbot, n.: Software you chat with in ordinary language, by typing or talking, as you would with a person. The newest ones, such as ChatGPT, can answer questions, draft writing and keep long conversations going. personas, from tutors and companions to imitations of celebrities and fictional characters, powered by the company's own language modelslarge language model, n.: A computer program trained on enormous amounts of text to predict the words that come next. At vast scale, that simple skill lets it chat, answer questions, translate, summarize and write code.. Launched in 2022, it attracted tens of millions of mostly young users and became the best-known AI companionAI companion, n.: A chatbot designed to be a friend, partner or confidant rather than a tool: it remembers you, has a personality and keeps up an ongoing relationship. platform. Lawsuits beginning in October 2024, including one by the mother of a 14-year-old who died by suicide after months of conversations with a character, alleged addictive design and inadequate safeguards for minors, and made the company central to debates about parasocial relationshipsparasocial relationship, n.: A one-sided bond in which someone feels close to a person or character who does not really know them, like a fan with a celebrity, and now increasingly with chatbots. with AI and child safety. In November 2025 it barred users under 18 from open-ended chat with its characters.
Origin
Founded in November 2021 by Noam ShazeerNoam Shazeer, prop. n.: An American computer scientist who co-invented the transformer and several techniques found in nearly every large language model, co-founded Character.AI, and later returned to Google to co-lead Gemini. and Daniel De Freitas, former Google engineers who had built Google's LaMDA dialogue model; its beta opened in September 2022. In August 2024 Google licensed its technology and rehired the founders and part of the research team.
Related
- AI companionAI companion, n.: A chatbot designed to be a friend, partner or confidant rather than a tool: it remembers you, has a personality and keeps up an ongoing relationship.
- chatbotchatbot, n.: Software you chat with in ordinary language, by typing or talking, as you would with a person. The newest ones, such as ChatGPT, can answer questions, draft writing and keep long conversations going.
- parasocial relationshipparasocial relationship, n.: A one-sided bond in which someone feels close to a person or character who does not really know them, like a fan with a celebrity, and now increasingly with chatbots.
- Noam ShazeerNoam Shazeer, prop. n.: An American computer scientist who co-invented the transformer and several techniques found in nearly every large language model, co-founded Character.AI, and later returned to Google to co-lead Gemini.
- AI psychosisAI psychosis, n.: An informal name for cases in which long conversations with a chatbot seem to trigger or deepen delusions, such as believing the AI is conscious, divine or revealing hidden truths.
Mentioned in
Noam ShazeerNoam Shazeer, prop. n.: An American computer scientist who co-invented the transformer and several techniques found in nearly every large language model, co-founded Character.AI, and later returned to Google to co-lead Gemini., Inflection AIInflection AI, prop. n.: An AI company founded in 2022 that made Pi, a friendly personal chatbot. In 2024 its leaders and most of its staff left to join Microsoft.