Character.AI, the immensely popular digital avatar startup, announced an exciting new feature on Thursday: users can now engage in real-time conversations with AI agents by making a free, fictionalized Character Call via the app.
Since its founding in 2021, Character.AI has been developing intelligent chatbots designed to engage users in interactive conversations. Initially, interactions were limited to text-based exchanges, similar to other chatbots like Gemini or Claude. However, in March 2024, the company introduced Character Voice, a suite of free tools that included a vast library of over a million AI-generated voices created by both the Character.AI team and its user community. This innovation allowed users to converse with their chosen avatars in one-on-one voice interactions.
Introducing Character Calls: Character.AI’s Latest Voice Feature
The latest announcement simplifies initiating a conversation. Users can now place a call to their preferred avatar directly through the Character.AI app. While Character Voice was initially only available in English, Character Calls support multiple languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and many more. Character.AI envisions people using this feature for various tasks—ranging from practicing a foreign language and prepping for job interviews to boosting confidence for stressful social interactions or adding an AI-generated party member to their next D&D campaign.
Sadly, those hoping for a nostalgic return of the 1970s party lines might be disappointed, as the company recently removed its group chat room feature from the web-based version. However, there’s a simple workaround if you still want to experience it: just gather your friends, each with their own avatar on individual calls, and create your very own modern-day party line.
