The chief executive of artificial intelligence chatbot maker Character.ai believes most people will have “AI friends” in the future, as it faces a string of lawsuits over alleged harm to children and advocacy groups call for a ban on “companionship” apps.
The San Francisco-based start-up — backed by top Silicon Valley investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and a past acquisition target of Meta — is at the vanguard of tech groups building AI-powered chatbots with different personas that interact with people.
It offers AI chatbots that have characters such as “Egyptian pharaoh”, “an HR manager” or a “toxic girlfriend”, which have proved popular with young users.