Sometimes even our best friends may not always know exactly what to tell us in a given situation. Fortunately, artificial intelligence is advancing enough that we might able to count on digital companions instead. Conversational AI company Character.AI announced Thursday that it raised a $150 million funding round for its platform that lets users create AI chatbots with customized personalities.
Users can chat with more than 2.7 million chatbots called characters on Character.AI’s platform, which is currently in beta mode. Created by fellow users, these chatbots convey the personalities and values of characters like Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony and Bowser from Nintendo’s Mario. The platform also features embodiments of real-life personas like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former president Barack Obama.
These characters were developed using Character.AI’s C1.1 AI model, a system with capabilities well-suited for entertainment, roleplay and emotional connections, according to the company. Building on this solution, Character.AI released an early preview of its C1.2 model with its latest announcement.
Character.AI launched several chatbots of its own using its new C1.2 system, including assistants named Lyle and Pair Programmer. These characters and others like them are well-equipped for helping users complete tasks like drafting clearer emails, preparing for tests or brainstorming ideas, according to Character.AI.
The conversational AI platform trains a large language model to offer people individualized experiences. This deep learning algorithm can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and generate text and other content, according to Character.AI.
“Character.AI’s power is our highly-sophisticated language model, which rapidly analyzes and contextualizes large volumes of information to produce useful intelligence tailored to each individual, making it a personalized superintelligence companion,” Noam Shazeer, Character.AI co-founder, said in a statement.
The company said its new Series A capital from lead investor Andreessen Horowitz will help Character.AI expand its computing abilities to create an even more sophisticated model. It will also go toward fueling continued growth based on the company’s success to date.
Since its beta launch in September, Character.AI has amassed millions of chatbots when the platform initially launched with less than 100, according to the company. Users have sent more than 2 billion messages and spend an average of two hours a day on the site.
“For years, we’ve known the potential and power of conversational AI, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see people from around the globe use Character.AI for a huge variety of use cases,” Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI co-founder, said in a statement. “Whether you’re looking for productivity, entertainment or a supportive friend, Character.AI is here for you, ready to assist and support you every step of the way.”
Character.AI also plans to devote capital toward delivering new features and capabilities to users. To do so, the company will expand its engineering team.
