- Character.ai ends open AI chat for under 18s
- Stories are a new type of AI experience aimed at getting teens to use the site.
- Stories are visual and cinematic experiences in which you choose how the characters and plot progress.
Far from being a character-based AI chatbot, Character.ai is embracing a multimodal future by launching a new feature called Stories with the aim of keeping teenage users on board.
Character.ai began phasing out open chat for all users under 18 on November 24, starting in the United States and expanding to other countries. The move follows the tragic case of a 14-year-old who spent months interacting with one of Character.ai’s chatbots before committing suicide. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, arguing that inadequate safeguards contributed to the suicide, prompting the venue to implement a series of new security measures.
Although open chat will disappear completely for users under 18, Character.ai will still offer access to features like Interactive Stream, Imagine, Avatar FX, Streams, and now the new Stories feature.
What are stories?
Stories turn Character.ai characters into co-stars in a guided visual adventure that you help create.
You choose two to three characters, choose a genre, then select a premise (or let Character.ai generate one). From there, you dive into a storyline where you make choices that determine where the plot goes.
Stories can be replayed with different decisions, and you can compare endings with your friends by sharing them in your feed. They feel a bit like watching an episode of anime that stops so you can choose what happens next.
How does it feel to use?
I tried the new Stories feature, and it wasn’t quite what I expected from an AI chatbot company. Instead of generating an entire story from scratch, I used one of its pre-selected story templates: Coffees and Capes – The Chronicles of Princess Irathe story of a vampire princess who hides from the royal guards while trying to live a normal life working in a magical cafe.
As you can imagine, this story was aimed squarely at teenagers.
It’s very visual. Each story segment includes an illustration, but instead of freely interacting with the characters, the narrative moves through fixed waypoints where you must choose between three choices to determine your next action.
Personally, I found this a bit restrictive. It reminded me of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, like The Warlock of Firetop Mountainthat I read as a teenager.
Character.ai says more formats, features, and creative tools for stories are coming, and the visual presentation is solid. But if the company really wants to win over teens, it may need a happy medium between unrestricted AI chat and a limited set of three hookup options.
Still, Stories is a promising start. It’s a safe, structured substitute for the open chat that teens actually want, but it’s also a basic. If Character.ai can evolve Stories into something more flexible and less “on rails,” it could become the leader of a new type of AI entertainment.
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