Here’s how Character.AI’s new CEO plans to address fears around kids’ use of chatbots
When Karandeep Anand's 5-year-old daughter gets home from school, they fire up the artificial intelligence chatbot platform Character.AI so she can chat about her day with her favorite characters." ~ He spent 15 years at Microsoft and six years at Meta, including as vice president and head of business products at the social media giant. ~ Rather than people consuming "brain rot" on social media for entertainment, Anand wants them co-creating stories and conversations with Character.AI for fun. "AI can power a very, very powerful personal entertainment experience unlike anything we've seen in the last 10 years in social media, and definitely nothing like what TV used to be". ~ The personas of AI characters on the app vary widely, from romantic partners to language tutors or Disney characters. ~ "a lot of the work we want to do is enable an entirely new creator ecosystem around AI entertainment." ~ It updated its AI model for users under the age of 18 to reduce the likelihood that they encounter sensitive or suggestive content, and gives parents the option to receive a weekly email about their teen's activity on the platform.
Anand".AI has made since last year, but that work to keep the platform safe continues. ~ "The tech and the industry and the user base is constantly evolving that we can never let the guard off. We have to constantly stay ahead of the curve". ~ Encouraging more creators to join the platform to make new chatbot characters and upgrading the social feed where users can share content they've created with Character.AI chatbots. The latter feature is similar to an app Meta launched this year that allows people to publicly share their prompts and AI-generated creations. ~ The social element could help further differentiate Character.AI from bigger competitors like ChatGPT, which users are also increasingly forming personal connections with. ~ In a sign of the competition for top talent, Meta has reportedly offered pay packages and bonuses worth hundreds of millions of dollars to grow its new superintelligence team. ~ "The good news for me as CEO is all the people we have here are very, very passionate and mission driven."
Character.AI named Karandeep Anand its new CEO last month.
