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AI Chatbot Startup Character.AI Launches New Calls Feature

Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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AI Chatbot Startup Character.AI Launches New Calls Feature

Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Artificial Intelligence chatbot startup Character.AI said on Thursday it has launched a calls feature that allows users to have voice conversations with their AI characters, ratcheting up efforts to compete with rivals including OpenAI.

AI-boom has prompted startups to release new features to their chatbots as competitors such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google and Amazon.com-backed Anthropic are looking to gain market share by engaging new users.

The availability of free two-way voice calls on Character.AI's app has come following OpenAI's announcement on Tuesday that the ChatGPT maker's rollout of the advanced voice mode of its latest model GPT-4o is delayed by one month.

Character.AI, co-founded by Noam Shazeer, who helped invent "transformer" AI architecture while at Google that underpins systems like Gemini and ChatGPT, enables users to create customized AI companions with specific personalities and values.

The Menlo Park, California-based startup said the new calls feature prompted more than 20 million calls from over 3 million unique users in its early rollout, suggesting a strong engagement.

Character.AI launched Character Voice, a suite of features that allows users to hear characters speaking to them in one-on-one chats, for all users in March.

Alphabet's Google was in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Character.AI last year, two sources briefed on the matter had told Reuters.

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OpenAI's Internal AI Details Stolen in 2023 Breach

FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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OpenAI's Internal AI Details Stolen in 2023 Breach

FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

A hacker gained access to the internal messaging systems at OpenAI last year and stole details about the design of the company's artificial intelligence technologies, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
The hacker lifted details from discussions in an online forum where employees talked about OpenAI's latest technologies, the report said, citing two people familiar with the incident.
However, they did not get into the systems where OpenAI, the firm behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, houses and builds its AI, the report added.
Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
OpenAI executives informed both employees at an all-hands meeting in April last year and the company's board about the breach, according to the report, but executives decided not to share the news publicly as no information about customers or partners had been stolen.
OpenAI executives did not consider the incident a national security threat, believing the hacker was a private individual with no known ties to a foreign government, the report said. The San Francisco-based company did not inform the federal law enforcement agencies about the breach, it added.
OpenAI in May said it had disrupted five covert influence operations that sought to use its AI models for "deceptive activity" across the internet, the latest to stir safety concerns about the potential misuse of the technology.
The Biden administration was poised to open up a new front in its effort to safeguard the US AI technology from China and Russia with preliminary plans to place guardrails around the most advanced AI Models including ChatGPT, Reuters earlier reported, citing sources.
In May, 16 companies developing AI pledged at a global meeting to develop the technology safely at a time when regulators are scrambling to keep up with rapid innovation and emerging risks.