Character.AI is a platform that lets users create and converse with customizable AI "characters" for open-ended roleplay and companion-style chat, founded in November 2021 by former Google AI researchers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas. The platform built a large, highly engaged user base, particularly among younger users, around user-generated AI personas spanning fictional characters, historical figures, and original creations.
Google struck a roughly $2.7 billion technology-licensing deal with Character.AI in 2024 that brought Shazeer and De Freitas back to Google while leaving Character.AI operating independently. Karandeep Anand has served as CEO since June 2025, though he announced in September 2026 that he would depart to become Disney's first Chief Technology Officer starting in October 2026, leaving the company's next leadership step still to be determined as of this writing.