Teens Can’t Talk to Character.AI’s Chatbots Anymore. Here’s What They Can Do Instead
After announcing last month that it would ban teenagers from having open discussions with AI chatbots, Character.AI this week introduced a new way to interact with AI-based characters. You can now choose characters, choose a genre, and generate guided stories.
Think of the concept as a sort of Choose Your Own Adventure book for the AI age. Instead of turning the page of a pre-written tale, you tell a vast linguistic model where to go next.
Character.AI presented the move as a way to allow children to entertain themselves by interacting with their favorite AI robots. (The platform has a collection of personalized “characters” with different traits and “personalities” that people can interact with.) People under the age of 18 can no longer have open conversations with bots on the platform.
The company implemented age restrictions after it and other AI platforms came under scrutiny for harmful interactions children had with chatbots. Companies have been sued multiple times this year by parents of teenagers who committed suicide after discussing self-harm with AI models. This includes OpenAI, maker of industry leader ChatGPT, which submitted a response this week in a lawsuit filed by Adam Raine’s parents. Raine’s parents claim he committed suicide after repeated interactions with ChatGPT during which the AI continued to engage with him and offered him advice on ways to harm himself. OpenAI said it has increased safety guardrails in its AI models, particularly for those under 18.
Learn more: AI Essentials: 29 Ways to Make AI Generation Work for You, According to Our Experts
The changes made by Character.AI are more radical. CEO Karandeep Anand told CNET in October that moving toward more carefully designed role-playing games and videos would give teens a better experience than conversations.
The Stories feature released this week allows everyone to create role-playing interactions with familiar, replayable and shareable characters. “By introducing a visual format focused on storytelling, our platform continues to support types of creativity beyond open chat,” Character.AI said in a blog post announcing the feature.
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