Character AI, a startup that lets users chat with various AI-powered characters, is now testing games on its desktop and mobile apps to increase engagement on its platform.
The games are available to paid subscribers of Character AI and a limited group of users on the free plan. For this initial release, the company developed two games, Speakeasy and War of Words.
Users with access to the games can go to any character they’re chatting with in the browser and tap the new controller icon. Users can then play games with existing characters. The app shows users a pop-up window to start a new game chat so that their previous chat with that character remains the same.
In Speakeasy, users have to make the chatbot say a specific word without using five listed words. For example, if you need to make the bot say “croissant” without using listed words like pastry, butter, bake, french, and flaky.
In Word War, users must duel the character and an AI judge decides who won a particular round out of five rounds.
The AI character said this is the company’s way of making the service more fun.
“Our goal as an AI entertainment company is to find ways to make the Character AI experience even more fun and entertaining. We’re currently testing a feature that lets you play with your favorite Characters, while keeping the immersive experience that users love,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Users already have their own characters for text-based games like this space adventure game. However, the company is also trying to bring its own games to the platform.
Character AI has been going through personnel changes at the helm after co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas left for Google. The company hired a YouTube executive as chief product officer, and Dominic Perella, who was the company’s general counsel, became interim CEO.
In December, Perella told TechCrunch that Character AI positions itself as an entertainment company. The introduction of games is a step that further reinforces this image.
“While there are companies in the space that are focused on connecting humans with AI companions, that’s not what we’re looking for at Character AI. What we want to do is create a much healthier entertainment platform. And so as we grow and as we push towards that goal of people creating stories, sharing stories on our platform, we have to evolve our security practices to be world class,” he said.
Platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn and Netflix have used games to increase engagement on their platforms. Character AI will likely take the same route to get users to spend more time on the platform. According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, Character AI users spend 98 minutes a day on the app.
Last year, the company added new safety tools for teens, including more prominent labels on AI characters notifying users that these are not real people after the company was part of multiple lawsuits. The startup also added a notification for when a user is in the app for 60 minutes at a time.
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