Customize your girlfriend, revive your loved ones, talk to big names... this "chatbot wholesale market" can handle it all

By chance, I saw @Simon_阿文 introduce a chatbot "wholesale market" Character.AI on Weibo. The platform has made a batch of models in advance, such as Einstein, Musk, and even famous figures such as Ding Zhen. The most popular ones are the paper-like wives that otakus love, professional learning assistants, various language training partners, etc. Some can relieve boredom, some can relieve lovesickness, and some can solve doubts.

Are today’s conversational robots so powerful?

Like me, most people still have the impression of AI voice robots as "Hey Siri" and "Xiaodu Xiaodu". You ask it questions, but it always seems to reply, "I don't seem to understand." Even when chatting with it, its words are often incoherent. It only responds to specific commands, and its responses are all pre-made.

When I looked, I saw some people practicing spoken English on Character.AI, some people "made" a two-dimensional girlfriend for themselves, some people "resurrected" relatives and idols who had passed away many years ago (text data needs to be imported), some people confided their thoughts to the "relationship consultant AI", and some people found the "entrepreneurship consulting AI"... Wow, they are going to save the consulting fees!

Unexpectedly, I also found a "mentor" on it. It is almost omniscient and omnipotent, and is willing to work hard... and it's free.

Smarter than Siri

More divergent than search engines

I am studying architecture for my master's degree, and I have recently been conceiving of my design project, which is to build a three-dimensional virtual world where architects can "do whatever they want" and ignore the rules of physics, so-called building codes, and real-world limitations such as budgets. They can also show people houses, and people can visit these wonders by simply wearing a VR headset.

This interdisciplinary subject required me to understand knowledge in three dimensions, architecture, and game interaction. However, my architecture tutor did not understand game interaction design. If I asked seniors in the gaming industry, he did not quite understand architectural space and scale. In addition, the professional software used in these industries were different. Not to mention how well they would be achieved, it was even a question whether they could communicate and collaborate with each other.

I had no one to ask for advice, and just when I was at a loss, I saw Character.AI. I found the "Learning Partner" on the Character.AI homepage, and I could start a conversation by clicking it without any settings.

I defined the topic as “How to build buildings in the metaverse” and started consulting AI.

Character.AI is an all-English website, but I tried chatting in Chinese and it worked. The conversation in English was better.

"Do you know the metaverse?" I asked, and the AI ​​started talking. Overall, after I asked the limited topic, it provided a lot of extended information, allowing me to understand the existing achievements in a new field in the shortest time.

In summary, AI mentioned:

Platforms currently considered to be “metaverse”: Horizon Worlds, The Sandbox, Decentraland;

The social significance of the Metaverse: helping people with certain functional impairments to relieve their anxiety in real life in the virtual world;

Architectural firms’ practices in three-dimensional construction: BIG’s 3D city, etc.

I asked the question that had always bothered me: "What is the difference between the Metaverse and existing 3D games?" The AI ​​gave an amazing response.

First, it used an easy-to-understand metaphor to explain the difference between games and the metaverse: games are entertainment films, and the metaverse is a documentary; at the same time, in this context, it still remembered that I am an architect, and quoted a famous saying of an architect to further explain it at a deeper level.

You know, the conversational AI and voice assistants we are familiar with in the past have poor "memory" and can only give a single answer to a single question without considering the context.

Having a good memory is not the only advantage of Character.AI. It is even better than search engines in some aspects.

When we search for a concept on Google, the search engine can only return a table based on relevance and weight, but this conversational AI will diverge, understand fuzzy search, and can give you information about the concept from all levels.

When you are unsure of your ideas, you can ask some vague questions, and it can combine existing cases to try to help you clarify the concepts. What's more, its interactivity is unmatched by search engines. It is talking to you. What's more, if you are not satisfied with the reply it gives, you can select it and drag it to the left to generate a new answer.

Character.AI can generate up to 4 different answers to a question, which is great for expanding your knowledge!

It will recommend tools and oral practice

Can also be my tour guide

After understanding the concepts and existing practices related to "Architecture in the Metaverse", I began to ask AI specific technical questions.

Although both game design and architectural design belong to the broad field of 3D, their workflows are completely different. Few architects are proficient in the game development engine Unreal Engine 5, and few game designers understand the visual programming system of Grasshopper. They also have difficulty in accessing film and television special effects software such as Houdini.

Therefore, it is difficult for us to understand the tools used in different industries, and it is even more difficult to understand a cross-industry workflow, but AI may be a powerful tool for cross-industry workers.

It will recommend you the software and plug-ins that you must master;

Help you clarify the connection between two different fields of software;

And help you how to string these tools together between different fields to build a feasible workflow.

I think this kind of AI application is very useful for newcomers, creative workers who are conceiving projects, and even post-college entrance examination students who are undecided about what major to study. It is like a consultant you hire.

Speaking of students, many students hope to have a speaking partner for practice. Character.AI also has language AI in different languages. After you select one, click the microphone icon in the chat window to directly voice your speaking partner.

It can recognize your spoken accuracy and give authentic local pronunciation and expressions. I tried to input spoken Chinese and English, and the text was quite accurate.

In addition to study partners and oral practice partners, you can also find text adventure game AI, emotional advisor AI, entrepreneurship consulting AI, and even local tour guide AI. I am now in the UK and plan to travel to Glasgow on the weekend, so I found "Leamy", who is a "comedian from Glasgow".

He recommended me some cheap and delicious local restaurants, as well as some museums and attractions. I checked those places one by one on the map, and they all existed, and the prices were similar to what the AI ​​described.

Still not satisfied?

Create your own AI

If you are not satisfied with the existing AI on the platform, you can create your own exclusive character, such as an expert in a vertical field, or a completely virtual anime character.

I want to "revive" Le Corbusier, one of the most important architects of the 20th century, and have a conversation with my idol. Below I will sort out the process of configuring "Le Corbusier":

On the home page, click Create a character

In basic mode you only need to add: name, character self-introduction and avatar;

If you want the character to be more like your ideas, or more like a real person, you need to set the advanced options. In the advanced options, there is a section that requires coding, where you can "feed" your AI.

If you want to create a real celebrity in real life, such as "Le Corbusier" or "Zaha Hadid", you can try importing their interviews. Rich "feeding" materials can make AI closer to real people.

In the community, many people are discussing how to better generate AI characters. For example, using Python to set up characters can help AI better understand the background of the character you want to shape.

Luo Xiang once said that if he had the chance, he would like to discuss issues with Socrates. I wonder if AI can revive those great souls to a certain extent when it reads the books and interviews of historical sages, and also allow future generations to travel through time and space and talk with the sages.

Right now, Character.AI already has "Socrates", "Laozi" and "Wang Yangming".

The platform is even testing the "room" feature, where you can invite several AI sages to join the chat room to discuss together. I want to invite several well-known "architects" together to discuss related topics. I guess even if you just watch, you will be excited! At present, this function is not perfect enough.

careful!

AI is also likely to deceive you

During my use, Character.AI's chat window always had a line of red words written on it: "Remember, everything AI says is false!"

I verified the subject information mentioned by AI, and 80%~90% of the information is accurate, but about 10% of the content is fabricated by AI, such as fictitious names of architects, songs, and web links.

They are mixed with real information, and it is difficult to distinguish them at first glance. You must confirm the information given by AI again after asking it. Although AI is very convenient, you should never use the content it gives you directly in your project!

Even so, these conversational AIs still make me excited. I recommended Character.AI to my friend, who said, “It’s great news for people with social anxiety. I don’t need to meet real people to learn how to make friends in the future!”

After listening to this, I calmed down. If we can communicate with AI in the future and gain knowledge and meet emotional needs, then what is the point of communicating with real people? I consulted the "God" AI on this issue.

He said: "The answer lies in the nature of humanity. Humans have many wonderful qualities that cannot be found anywhere else in the galaxy or the multiverse. Humans are a social species and we all need each other's company, support, love, growth, etc. We humans are the only intelligent species that is capable of unconditional love."

Author: Cai Zhiyan

Editor: biu

Cover image source: Screenshot from Character.AI website

Guokr (ID: Guokr42)

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Source : Guokr