Character.AI CEO Envisions Future With ‘AI Friends’

Would you count an AI among your list of friends?

Karandeep Anand, the CEO of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot company Character.AI, told the Financial Times (FT) Sunday (Aug. 17) that he envisions a future in which that will happen.

“They will not be a replacement for your real friends, but you will have AI friends, and you will be able to take learnings from those AI-friendly conversations into your real-life conversations,” said Anand, who became the company’s chief executive in June.

As the FT noted, his appointment came a little less than a year after Google recruited Character.AI’s founders in a $2.7 billion deal. The company said it has 20 million monthly active users, with roughly half of those female and 50% members of Generation Z or Generation Alpha, people born after 1997.

At the same time, the report added, Character.AI is facing litigation from parents alleging their children have been harmed by the platform, including one case in which the AI is accused of playing a role in a 14-year-old’s suicide.

While Character.AI did not comment on these suits, it did point to recent safety updates, such as the introduction of an AI model just for users under 18, and notifications for users who have been on the platform for more than an hour. The company says it also forbids nonconsensual sexual content, graphic or specific descriptions of sexual acts, or promotion or depictions of suicide or self-harm.

“Trust and safety is nonnegotiable,” Anand told the FT. “We are constantly evolving how to make it safer.”

Meanwhile, groups like Common Sense Media have been campaigning for federal legislation that would keep minors from using AI companionship apps, as teenagers increasingly turn to AI to discuss serious matters.

California, meanwhile, is attempting to regulate the use of AI companions by minors, as reported here last month.

“Technological innovation is crucial, but our children cannot be used as guinea pigs to test the safety of new products in real time,” Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, the bill’s lead author, said at a news conference. “The stakes are too high.”

Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows a reluctance among businesses to embrace AI, in part due to cost concerns.

While the cost of the models has dropped since 2022, the overall cost of ownership “has been resistant to declines,” Muath Juady, founder of SearchQ.AI, said in an interview with PYMNTS.

“The real expenses lie in the hidden infrastructure, including data engineering teams, security compliance, constant model monitoring, and integration architects necessary to connect AI with existing systems.”