AI developers Character AI tests online games

Behavioral AI, a start-up that allows users to interact with different AI characters, is now testing its desktop games and online apps to increase engagement on its platform.

The game is available to paid subscribers of Character AI and to a limited number of users on the free plan. For this first release, the company created two games, Speakeasy and Word War.

Users who have access to the game can go to any of the chat rooms in the browser and click on the new control icon. Users can play the game with available characters. The app displays a pop-up for users to start a new chat in the game so that their previous chat with that person remains the same.

In Speakeasy, users have to get the chatbot to say a specific word without using the five specified words. For example, if you have to make a bot that says “croissant” don’t use words like cookies, butter, baking, French, and flaky.

In Word War, users have to compete against a human, and an AI judge decides who won one of the five rounds.

Character AI said that this is a way that the company helps to make the service fun.

“Our goal as an exciting AI company is to find creative ways Character AI be fun and interesting. We’re currently testing a feature that allows you to play with your favorite Characters, all the while keeping our users’ preferences in mind,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Users already have their own characters word based games like Space Adventure Game. However, the company is trying to bring its games to the platform, too.

Character AI has gone through a change to the top staff after that Co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas left Google. The company was hiring YouTube director as head of marketingand Dominic Perella, who was the company’s general counsel, became interim CEO.

In December, Perella told TechCrunch that Character AI positions itself as a fun company. Starting a game is a step that also strengthens the image.

“Although there are companies in the space that focus on connecting people with their AI counterparts, that’s not what we’re going for at Character AI. What we want to do is create the best platform for entertainment. So, as we grow and push towards the goal of having people create stories, share stories on the platform ours, we have to improve our security measures to be first class,” he said.

Platforms like YouTube, LinkedInand Netflix have used games to increase engagement on their platforms. Character AI is probably taking the same approach to make users 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 equipment for young peopleincluding familiar AI characters to inform users that these are not real people when the company is a part of more cases. The startup also added a notification for when a user is on the app for 60 minutes at a time.

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