Character.AI introduces a character calling feature that allows users to ‘call’ an AI chatbot

Character.AI unveiled a new feature on Thursday that will allow users to “summon” chatbots. These AI chatbots, also known as Characters, can be programmed to act like a real person or a fictional entity. With this feature, users can make phone calls through the app and have conversations that simulate a real phone conversation. The artificial intelligence (AI) platform says the feature will support multiple languages ​​such as English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and more. In fact, Arc Search released a similar feature last month.

Character.AI announces Character Calls feature

In a blog post, the AI ​​company announced that the Character Calls feature will be available to all users for free. However, the feature is currently only available in the app and users won’t find it on the website right now. In March, the company introduced the Character Voice feature, which was one-way communication with characters. With this, users would text the AI, and it would respond verbally. This is done by using the text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities of the AI ​​model.

Now, with Character Calls, users can initiate two-way verbal communication. This would give users a hands-free conversation experience with an AI character.

Calling Character.AI

With the new interface, users will see a call screen interface when they start a voice conversation with the chatbot. The display comes with a mute button and an option to end the call. The company says the Character Calls feature will offer lower latency to generate faster responses. Users will also be able to choose from different voices, pitches, accents and personalities.

Character.AI said the chatbots will support multiple languages ​​such as English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese. There will also be an option to seamlessly switch between voice and text calls. The chatbot will retain the context of the conversation even after switching.

After the call ends, users will be able to see a full transcript of the call that is stored within the chat interface to serve as an easy reference point for the next conversation. Character.AI also stated that the feature will also be introduced on the web in the future.