Character.AI is the buzziest generative AI startup that everyone is talking about; logged 1.7M downloads in its first week

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is a famous line from Gil Scott’s lyrics, which symbolizes the idea that active participation and taking to the streets are crucial when a revolution occurs.

However, that was a statement made five decades ago. Today, we are witnessing a revolution of a different kind—the AI revolution—as OpenAI ChatGPT introduces us to a new era of generative artificial intelligence.

While ChatGPT has been grabbing attention, it’s not the sole chatbot tool making waves in the field. Enter Character.AI, a neural language model chatbot application that excels at generating human-like text responses and actively engaging in contextual conversations.

Remarkably, in just its first week, the Character.AI app, which is still in Beta, was downloaded an impressive 1.7 million times, leading to the formation of a waiting list for new users. We had to even wait for about five minutes to get a glimpse of the buzziest generative AI app. As stated on their website, the app is currently experiencing a surge in traffic and implementing a virtual queue system to manage the number of users accessing the site simultaneously.

The growing popularity of apps like Character.AI underscores the increasing traction of chatbots driven by generative AI, which provides users with seemingly endless dialogue possibilities.

This trend is evident in the investment landscape as well. Just last year, investors injected a substantial sum of $299 million into the AI companion space, indicating the strong interest and belief in the potential of these technologies. In 2023, the funding momentum continues, with an impressive $155 million raised so far this year, demonstrating sustained confidence and financial support in the development of generative AI-powered chatbot applications.

Founded in September 2022 by Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI is an exciting AI experience app that enables users to engage in lifelike conversations with their favorite characters, whether they are from fiction, history, or entirely unique to the platform.

The app employs a neural language model that leverages vast amounts of text to generate responses based on user prompts. It provides an open platform where anyone can create their own character, whether they are fictional or based on real individuals, regardless of their status of being alive or deceased.

For instance, a simple search on the website reveals a wide range of characters, including Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and even historical figures like Napoleon Bonaparte. Users have the option to interact with a single character at a time or create a group chat with multiple characters, enabling simultaneous conversations between the characters and the user.

While the basic features of Character.AI are free to use, there is a premium offering called c.ai+ that provides additional perks. Subscribers to c.ai+ enjoy benefits such as priority access to chats, faster response times from characters, and exclusive early access to new features that are introduced on the platform.