I might get through a book or three a week, depending on my schedule. I really feel like there’s nothing better than immersing yourself in the plot and, more specifically, delving into the minds of the characters. I’ve always been drawn to fantasy books, with their fascinating world-building and action-packed scenes. Like many people, I literally wanted to be at Hogwarts when I first read the Harry Potter series. With advances in artificial intelligence, we are getting closer to a reality where we can delve into these favorite stories.
A new feature for Character.AI, launching Thursday, is an AI-powered role-playing experience that lets you play as a character in your classic literary text. Called Books, the feature will launch with more than 20 public domain titles, including Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby.
This new feature goes beyond Character.AI’s standard open interactive chat to deliver an immersive storytelling experience and narrative-driven entertainment.
Character.AI appears to be taking a step back from simple open chat functionality, which can be risky for emotionally vulnerable users or teens. Both Google and Character.AI lawsuits settled Earlier this year, there were claims that these AI chatbots were causing emotional harm to minors and leading children to commit suicide. Last year, Character.AI made sweeping changes to its policy and security, banning anyone under the age of 18 from using the platform for open discussions.
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You can enter a story, talk to its characters, and play as one.
Character.AIHow Books Work
To get started, you can log into the Character.AI website and decide whether you want to interact with the story modes or the alternate universe remixes.
In Story modes, you can choose to play as a specific character from a book or your own in Character.AI. You can then choose to follow the original plot of the story with Book bow mode or create your own story with Exit script mode. Character.AI plans to launch other modes soon, such as TapTalea more guided mode that offers pre-written prompts you can choose to drive the narrative.
Read also: Teenagers can no longer talk to Character.AI chatbots. Here’s what they can do instead
You can play the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and interact with characters like Alice and the Duchess.
Character.AIYou can also completely remix the universe of classic literature with Alternate Universe Remixes. In this mode, you can place Alice in Wonderland in space or make Elizabeth Bennet a modern romantic comedy heroine.
The books are now available to Character.AI Plus subscribers on mobile and web as part of Character.AI Labs.