Character.AI, the AI chatbot startup backed by a16z and founded by former Google AI researchers, is unveiling an exciting new feature for its subscribers today. This chatbot platform, which enables users to craft AI companions with distinct personalities and even customize their own, is introducing a novel experience called “Character Group Chat.” This new feature lets users engage in group conversations with multiple AI characters simultaneously, adding a unique dimension to social interactions.
The Character Group Chat feature allows users to either create group chats exclusively with their favorite AI companions or mix AI personalities with human participants, providing flexibility and diversity in communication. The concept behind this feature is to allow users to establish social connections with friends, collaborate, and share ideas in real-time, much like any other group chat experience, but with the added element of AI companions.
Character.AI suggests various creative scenarios for users to explore with this feature. They can have AI scientists and thinkers engage in discussions, featuring personalities like Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, and Stephen Hawking. Alternatively, users can form group chats with mythological gods such as Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. For more practical purposes, one can initiate group chats centered around specific topics or themes like travel, gaming, book clubs, or role-playing, and invite an AI companion to enhance and facilitate the conversations.
The idea of incorporating AI chatbots into group chats is not unique to Character.AI. Snapchat’s My AI chatbot can be integrated into group chats using the command @myai, while Meta has recently introduced AI-powered bots across its apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram’s DMs, some based on celebrities like MrBeast, Paris Hilton, Tom Brady, Charli D’Amelio, and Snoop Dogg. Nonetheless, Character.AI aims to distinguish itself with this innovative feature.
Notably, Character.AI’s new group chat experience is not available for free. Instead, it is initially accessible to c.ai+ subscribers, a subscription plan priced at $9.99 per month, which offers advantages like skipping waiting queues, faster message generation, and access to an exclusive community channel for feedback and support. The company plans to extend this feature to the general public in the future.
At its launch, Character Group Chat is exclusively available on the Character.AI mobile app for iOS and Android, with plans to expand to the web later on.
The Character.AI app achieved over half a million installations within its first six days and is reportedly gaining popularity in the U.S. According to third-party data from market intelligence provider data.ai, the app boasts nearly 30 million monthly active users worldwide, with approximately 7 million in the U.S. The estimated lifetime gross in-app purchase revenue is $1.3 million, although it’s worth noting that c.ai+ subscriptions are sold on the web, so this figure doesn’t provide a comprehensive view of the app’s overall revenue.
