- tech360.tv
AI Chatbot Startup Character.AI Unveils New Calls Feature
Character.AI has launched a new calls feature that allows users to have voice conversations with their AI characters. The startup aims to compete with rivals such as OpenAI, Google, and Amazon.com-backed Anthropic. The availability of free two-way voice calls follows a delay in OpenAI's rollout of its advanced voice mode.
This move is aimed at intensifying competition with industry rivals, including OpenAI. As the AI industry continues to boom, startups like Character.AI are constantly releasing new features to their chatbots in order to attract and retain users, while established players like Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google, and Amazon.com-backed Anthropic are also vying for a larger market share.
The introduction of free two-way voice calls on Character.AI's app comes in response to OpenAI's recent announcement of a delay in the rollout of the advanced voice mode of its latest model, GPT-4o. This delay has provided an opportunity for Character.AI to capitalise on the market demand for voice-enabled AI interactions.
Co-founded by Noam Shazeer, who played a key role in the development of the "transformer" AI architecture at Google, which powers systems like Gemini and ChatGPT, Character.AI allows users to create personalised AI companions with unique personalities and values. The Menlo Park, California-based startup has seen promising early results with the new calls feature, with over 3 million unique users making more than 20 million calls during the initial rollout, indicating strong user engagement.
Earlier this year, Character.AI introduced Character Voice, a suite of features that enables users to have one-on-one chats with their AI characters, further enhancing the interactive experience.
In a related development, it was reported last year that Alphabet's Google was in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Character.AI, highlighting the growing interest and potential in the AI chatbot space.
Character.AI has launched a new calls feature that allows users to have voice conversations with their AI characters.
The startup aims to compete with rivals such as OpenAI, Google, and Amazon.com-backed Anthropic.
The availability of free two-way voice calls follows a delay in OpenAI's rollout of its advanced voice mode.
Source: REUTERS