OpenAI and Character.AI Race for More Funding

Too good to be true, A.I. startups are taking off on rumors OpenAI will get a big new round.

Hey Everyone,

With rumours swirling that Charcter.AI is seeking several hundred millions of dollars of funding from Google, OpenAI recently told the Financial Times that it’s seeking a lot more funding from Microsoft for AGI development.

Good sources for these sorts of rumor/breaking scoops are The Information, Semafor, Reuters, FT and occasionally Bloomberg.

As Reuters noted, Character.AI’s character-based chatbots have struck a chord with younger users who make up 60% of its web traffic, helping position the company as the maker of a more “fun” AI companion when put up against ChatGPT or even Google’s Bard.

ChatGPT is not viewed as entertaining and hence struggles to convert daily active users from monthly or “weekly active users”. It claimed to have 100 million weekly active users on its first DevDay.

Character.AI allowed people to create their own chatbots a long time before OpenAI came out with GPTs, sort of like a lesser powered clone. Furthermore OpenAI does a lot of marketing that it’s leading to AGI, which probably isn’t based on fact.