Character AI is a chatbot with bags of personality – in fact, that is the whole point. This neural language model service allows you to have conversations with a host of different AI characters, each of which have their own thoughts and behaviors.
There are characters based on real people both living or dead as well as those that have been entirely made up from scratch, perhaps based on personality types. Character AI also allows you to create your own chatbots. But is it all worth taking about?
This article was correct as of February 2025. AI tools are updated regularly and it is possible that some features have changed since this article was written. Some features may also only be available in certain countries.
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What is Character AI?
Character AI allows you to create and use bespoke personality-led AI chatbots. It was founded by Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas who once worked on Google’s LaMDA family of conversational large language models. They made a beta version of the service available in September 2022 and it’s since become very popular – not to mention a tad controversial at times.
Amongst the controversies, Character AI was used by the German weekly magazine Die Aktuelle to generate an interview with the former Formula One driver Michael Schumacher who suffered a severe brain injury in a skiing accident in 2013. It was also used to emulate famous fictional personalities such as Harry Potter and Superman although the company has since cracked down on AI imitations of intellectual property.
The service instituted new safety measures for building and interacting with AI-powered virtual personalities days after a 14-year-old, who built up a relationship with one of the chatbots, took his own life. Another set of safety features was later introduced to make the service even safer for teenagers. The company wants to foster a safe environment for its users.
What can you use Character AI for?
Character AI can be used to have fun conversations with a host of different personalities – the AI is so good, it’s like having a chat with a human. You’re able to gain a fresh perspective on various topics depending on which chatbot you’re conversing with and this can prove inspiring, not to mention potentially educational.
You can also create your own characters and it’s a simple enough task: you essentially describe your character, add a backstory and indicate how it ought to talk and act. Character AI will then draw on a vast amount of data to work out how the AI should respond given those traits and you and others can chat away.
Characters can be used to help you learn a language – among those supported are English, Spanish, German, French and Japanese. You can use characters to expand your vocabulary or translate text. It’s also possible to gain recommendations, plan a trip, get help with creative writing and even engage in a text adventure or a word game. It’s also possible to talk to your favorite character on the phone with Character Calls!
What can’t you use Character AI for?
Although you can use Character AI to brainstorm, given its more of a fun tool rather than a professional one, you can’t really use it in a business or academic setting.
It’s not going to start helping you with your projects or essays and it’s not going to go scouring the web for answers to your burning questions.
You can’t use Character AI as a fact-gathering tool either primarily because hallucinations (or false results) are rather frequent.
How much does Character AI cost?
Character AI is free to use unless you want faster messages, better memory, chat customisation (such as colors and backgrounds) and priority access to select new features. For that, you will need c.ai+ which costs $9.99/£8/AU$20 a month. It will auto-renew and there is no cost-saving annual option.
Where can you use Character AI?
Character AI is available via a browser but there are also apps for iOS and Android. You will need to sign up for an account before you can get stuck in and you have to enter your date-of-birth.
Is Character AI any good?
Used well, Character AI is a wonderful, fun tool with many practical uses. In our tests, we found it useful for helping us practice for a real-life job interview while another was able to explain the difference between two maths formulas in detail. Since it offers a fully customisable experience, it is also able to share more emotion than a standard chatbot which makes conversations feel more natural and engaging. But don’t take it too seriously. For example, Graham Barlow, senior editor of AI at TechRadar, created an AI clone of himself. It hallucinated a lot but proved hilarious at times.
Use Character AI if...
You’re interested in engaging with chatbots that not only match specific personalities but are capable of providing different perspectives and skills. You should also use Character AI if you’re learning a language – it’s a great way to brush up – or if you just fancy an entertaining hour or so, playing a game, chewing the fat and so forth.
Don’t use Character AI if...
Avoid Character AI if you find the whole idea of chatting to a fake persona a little bit weird or if you are likely to get sucked in, to the point where you feel as if the character is real. Character AI isn’t going to be a replacement for standard chatbots either – it’s not a brilliant productivity tool that is going to jump in and get you started on a document and there are better research tools.
Also consider
The best alternative to Character AI is PolyBuzz which also applies generative AI to fictional characters and allows you to interact in a more human-like way – we have compared PolyBuzz to Character AI to help you decide which is best likely to suit.
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