🎭 Character.AI: Reimagining Conversation

Ever wish you could chat with your favorite historical figure, banter with a radio DJ, or wildly brainstorm without the judgement (cause no one wants to hear us out on a coffee-dispensing steering wheel)?

That’s the magic of Character.AI—a platform where creativity meets functionality, delivering human-like interactions with virtual personas tailored to your needs.

Whether you’re learning a new language, role-playing customer interactions, or just indulging in a spirited debate with AI Aristotle, Character.AI offers tools to make conversations more engaging, personalized, and productive.

Let’s dig in…

What is Character.AI?

Character.AI is an artificial intelligence-powered platform that lets users talk to virtual personas—whether they’re historical figures, fictional characters, or completely custom creations. Over 20M users have already created more than 18M bots.

Built by former Google engineers Daniel De Freitas and Noam Shazeer, it delivers conversations that feel human, making them perfect for everything from creative exploration to practical problem-solving.

It’s is currently free to use, but a premium offering called c.ai+ offers some extra perks, like priority access to chats, faster response times from characters, and early access to new features.

What Can You Do with Character.AI?

1. Create Custom Characters:
   Design your own AI persona with unique traits, backstories, and conversation styles. Want a chatbot who knows everything about 80s pop culture? Done. Want a chatbot to be your personal trainer and hype you up for a marathon? No problem. Want a chatbot who acts like your boss so you can practice asking for a raise? You got it. If you can dream it, Character.AI can play the part.

2. Host Multi-Character Chats:
   Set up chat rooms with multiple characters to observe debates, guide discussions, or collaborate on ideas. Create your own all-start brain-trust to talk philosophy or join forces for a story.

3. Bring Characters to Life with Voices:
   Add voices to your characters for immersive conversations. You can literally call and have a chat with your character by choosing from a long list of presets or even cloning your own voice.

4. Leverage Utility Bots:
   Use bots like Decision Helper for evaluating options, Grammar Checker for pointing out all your typos, and Trip Planner for researching your next getaway. It can be more than just conversations—it’s can be a helpful tool for getting things done.

5. Learn a New Language:

   Practice conversational skills with virtual tutors who mimic native speakers. Practice vocabulary, grammar, and fluency in a multitude of languages.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

While Character.AI is fun and versatile, it’s not without its quirks and limitations. For example:

• Memory Issues: It might forget earlier context during long conversations.

• Image Generation is Mid: While characters can create images, they aren’t as good as other AI art generators because this tool was mainly designed for text.

• Strict Filters: Some content moderation may block harmless topics.

• Privacy: Chats aren’t encrypted, so always avoid sharing sensitive information.

• Accuracy Concerns: Responses can be inaccurate or overly creative (aka it suffers from hallucinations like many chatbots), so always verify details.

Wait a Second…Hasn’t Character.AI Been in Hot Water Lately?

It’s true. The platform has found itself at the center of controversy and is facing significant scrutiny over its safety features and impact on young users.

The platform is currently embroiled in two lawsuits from parents alleging that its chatbots facilitated harmful interactions with teens, including exposure to inappropriate content. One tragic case involves a 14-year-old boy whose mother claims the platform played a role in his death.

In response, Character.AI has rolled out several safety measures, such as a teen-specific AI model designed to avoid sensitive topics and pop-up prompts directing users to mental health resources in some instances.

The company says it’s also developing stronger parental controls and wellness reminders to limit excessive usage.

How Dealerships Can Utilize Character.AI

For dealerships, Character.AI offers a free, fresh way to enhance operations and engage teams:

• Role-Playing Customer Scenarios: Practice handling tough questions with AI personas simulating different customer types.

• Team Training: Use custom characters to onboard new hires, answer common questions, or simulate real-world interactions. Role-play challenging scenarios like price negotiations or addressing customer complaints to build confidence and skills.

• Customer Engagement: Create brand-tailored AI personas that can guide new buyers, explain financing, or answer service-related questions. These can be provided directly to customers to answer more than the standard FAQs.

What We’ve Learned From Using It So Far

1️⃣ Writing Assistant, or Ghosting Ghostwriter?

Characters may not always perform as they should.

After asking the Writer Assistant to help us with this article, it assured us many times over the course of many minutes that they were working on it.

But alas, we’re still waiting to see any actual results. We mostly ended up in an endless loop arguing about whether or not it had sent the article (it never did), and mostly just felt like working on a project with a co-worker who has ADD.

2️⃣ It’s really fun.

If you’re the imaginative type, enjoy chopping it up with just about anyone, or if you need a judgement-free zone to bounce ideas, you’ll love this thing.

Just be careful. We’ll say first-hand that as much as it can be a very helpful tool, it’s also great way to waste a bunch—and we mean a BUNCH—of time (cause like, who wouldn’t want to spend an hour discussing the physics behind the multiverse with Loki?)

So, go ahead and give it a try. Then let us know your thoughts in the comments below.