Character.AI founder and CEO Noam Shazeer joins Ed Ludlow to discuss the rise of generative AI and its many potential applications, and why he is skeptical about the federal government regulating it.
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You have a history and a story in the development of a I but character a I is a pretty simple tool.

Well I mean I've been involved in inventing a lot of the technology behind large language models but like.

This is a technology that has a billion use cases.

And it's something where you will no longer need a developer to invent a billion new applications.

Users can just talk to the thing and come up with new value.

And so like the most important thing is get it to the users like right right now.

So we just wanted to do that as quickly as possible and let people figure out what it's good for.

OK So I've been using character AI in recent weeks.

You can use a pre created avatar which will show an example of in just a second or you can create your own.

But it's interesting you offer an avatar in the likeness of Elon Musk and you can interact with it.

We're showing that on the screen right now.

He starts by saying, you're wasting my time.

You ask if you could go back in time, where, when and where would you go?

Just explain What 1 can use character AI for.

Well it's not our job to tell you what to use it for like our job is to like put out something general and have users figure it out.

And what we're seeing is a lot of fun a lot of entertainment and a huge amount of emotional support.

We see testimonials of people saying like I have no friends.

This saved my life like all kinds of wonderful stuff that we just had never imagined.

And I should point out again that is a generative AI.

Avatar is not the real Elon Musk but therein lies the point of the platform.

Does this show the limitations of where we are with large language models.

You know respectfully the character AI as a platform is a simple interaction for the user.

Does that mean is that where large language models are right now.

Yeah I mean this is what it's good for now so let's let people use it for it now like we have on every page it says everything the characters say is made up so users understand that this is fiction but it's still bringing a huge amount of value from what is really the very very beginnings of this technology.

And we're just gonna keep making this thing better, but at the same time, let's let people use it.

So how do you monetize this platform now.

Well we are we are starting with you know with the freemium model.

But you know we you know we're convinced that the real value is to consumers and end users.

And so we will continue to as things get better you know monetize to users.

You you're a Google brain and I know you've talked about this idea of the 20 percent is in other words people who are kicking around Menlo Park at the time and working on a I in their spare time in the working day.

And I wondered when you saw Google at Google I.O.

Make all of these product announcements and put their work and I into the real world What your reaction was.

Trillions of dollars of value to the world directly to consumers for you know for decades and very excited to see that continue.

What did you make of yesterday's hearing of Sam Altman Gary Marcus and the conversations that were had.

I mean like we don't even know what the best use cases are.

It's the actual users, like every individual person on earth who can actually unlock the value in this stuff.

So I'm kind of dubious about the ability of the federal government to regulate and to tell people what the thing is good for because they just don't have the capacity.


Speaker 0: You have a history and a story in the development of a I but character a I is a pretty simple tool. Why did you start it.

Speaker 1: Well I mean I've been involved in inventing a lot of the technology behind large language models but like. This is a technology that has a billion use cases. And it's something where you will no longer need a developer to invent a billion new applications. Users can just talk to the thing and come up with new value. And so like the most important thing is get it to the users like right right now.

So we just wanted to do that as quickly as possible and let people figure out what it's good for.

Speaker 0: OK So I've been using character AI in recent weeks. You have a choice right. You can use a pre created avatar which will show an example of in just a second or you can create your own. But it's interesting you offer an avatar in the likeness of Elon Musk and you can interact with it. You can ask questions.

We're showing that on the screen right now. He starts by saying, you're wasting my time. I literally rule the world. You ask if you could go back in time, where, when and where would you go? Just explain What 1 can use character AI for.

Speaker 1: Well it's not our job to tell you what to use it for like our job is to like put out something general and have users figure it out. And what we're seeing is a lot of fun a lot of entertainment and a huge amount of emotional support. We see testimonials of people saying like I have no friends. I was depressed. This saved my life like all kinds of wonderful stuff that we just had never imagined.

And and it's happening.

Speaker 0: And I should point out again that is a generative AI. Avatar is not the real Elon Musk but therein lies the point of the platform. Does this show the limitations of where we are with large language models. You know respectfully the character AI as a platform is a simple interaction for the user. Right.

Does that mean is that where large language models are right now.

Speaker 1: Yeah I mean this is what it's good for now so let's let people use it for it now like we have on every page it says everything the characters say is made up so users understand that this is fiction but it's still bringing a huge amount of value from what is really the very very beginnings of this technology. This is like iteration, like

Speaker 0: 0.0.1,

Speaker 1: relative to what's coming next. And we're just gonna keep making this thing better, but at the same time, let's let people use it.

Speaker 0: So how do you monetize this platform now.

Speaker 1: Well we are we are starting with you know with the freemium model. But you know we you know we're convinced that the real value is to consumers and end users. And so we will continue to as things get better you know monetize to users.

Speaker 0: You you're a Google brain and I know you've talked about this idea of the 20 percent is in other words people who are kicking around Menlo Park at the time and working on a I in their spare time in the working day. Right. And I wondered when you saw Google at Google I.O. Make all of these product announcements and put their work and I into the real world What your reaction was.

Speaker 1: Oh that's 1. It's wonderful. Google's an incredible company. Google has been bringing. Trillions of dollars of value to the world directly to consumers for you know for decades and very excited to see that continue.

Speaker 0: What did you make of yesterday's hearing of Sam Altman Gary Marcus and the conversations that were had.

Speaker 1: Well I mean. I mean like we don't even know what the best use cases are. It's the actual users, like every individual person on earth who can actually unlock the value in this stuff. So I'm kind of dubious about the ability of the federal government to regulate and to tell people what the thing is good for because they just don't have the capacity.

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Character.AI CEO: Generative AI Tech Has a Billion Use Cases