#characterai

#characterai

AI companies aren't just bombarding social media feeds with 'slop'; they're now making platforms of their own. One leader in this new frontier is Character.AI, a companionship platform where users build and interact with millions of AI characters, ranging from historic figures like Egyptian Pharaohs and Vladimir Putin to bots posing as HR managers, therapists, and toxic girlfriends. Founded in 2021 by a pair of Google engineers and backed by a list of superstar investors, the San Francisco company has rapidly grown in popularity.

According to Axios, a law firm representing Disney wrote to Character.AI demanding that it cease using copyrighted characters without authorisation. "Character.ai chose to systematically reproduce, monetize, and exploit Disney's characters, that are protected by copyrights and trademarks, without any authorization, in a way that is anathema to the very essence of the Disney brand and legacy," the letter states. The company said Character.AI chatbots impersonated characters such as Moana, Princess Elsa from Frozen, Moana, Spider-Man alter ego Peter Parker and Darth Vader from Star Wars.