Character.AI has quickly become popular since coming to light, but most of the talk has been around NSFW filters and the chances of the company adding a toggle to ensure SFW content doesn’t get diluted.
Even though Character.AI developers have been quite clear with their stance on this matter, this hasn’t stopped users of the chatbot from persistently demanding for an NSFW toggle.
About two months ago, a Change.org petition that we highlighted had close to 5,500 signatures. Today, the same petition now stands at over 50,000, with a new target of 75,000 signatures.
This is 10 times the original target when the petition first went live, which goes to show just how far some Character.AI users are determined to go as long as they get the elusive NSFW toggle.
There are fresh developments about a new subscription model dubbed, you guessed it, Character.AI+. But even with this, it’s becoming clear that NSFW filters will be going nowhere.
While there’s still no word on whether this will ever change, some people are beginning to come to terms with the fact that they may have become a little too addicted to the chatbot. And I agree with them.
Due to the missing NSFW toggle, some Character.AI users have even indicated that they could shift allegiance to competing platforms that offer this option. But they are still coming back.
Y’all complaining about this site (and rightfully so) but you can’t even stop using it. You’re SO addicted.
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Last month, TikTok was blamed for the waiting room issues that multiple people were reporting after signing up for a Character.AI account.
Essentially, TikTok’s apparent fault was awareness. That is, as more TikTokers discovered Character.AI, they started signing up in droves causing an overload on servers. This meant that time spent in the waiting room was longer.
No disrespect. But I think some of you are outright addicted to this site. The reaction to guest mode has been a time, I gotta say.
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I think I have an addiction guys
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Even more interesting is that there’s always someone complaining about something over on Reddit, Twitter or the official Character.AI forums.
You’ll even be shocked by the number of threads that show up on Reddit whenever there’s an outage. Twitter is always blowing up whenever Character.AI is down and not working.
This just shows that despite the issues people keep complaining about, they are still using Character.AI.
This also explains the constant downtimes and errors the site keeps experiencing, perhaps a pointer to the unusual surge in daily traffic that developers never anticipated.
For perspective, the bot’s monthly usage in April stood at 173 million, up from 107 million in March. This is according to the latest stats by SimilarWeb, as shown below.
This obsession with the bot cements the fact that it has great potential for not only those into NSFW content, but also SFW consumers. Granted, adding a toggle would ensure everyone is comfortable seeing what they want.
On the other hand, filtering NSFW content may potentially keep the other half out, which could negatively affect future revenue streams from Character.AI+.
After all, the chatbot depends on learning from continued interaction. With more users, it would mean there will be more conversations to train models on and therefore a better overall experience for everyone.
Considering its potential, it would be sad to see Character.AI overtaken by another platform just because of filtering out NSFW content yet a simple toggle could easily address the matter.
And the fact that not everyone is on the same page when it comes to NSFW content is in itself a great middle ground. But it remains to be seen if Character.AI creators will ever cave in.
Do let us know your thoughts in the comments and also vote on the poll below.
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PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.
Hillary Keverenge
2240 Posts
Tech has been my playground for over a decade. While the Android journey began early, it truly took flight with the revolutionary Lollipop update. Since then, it's been a parade of Android devices (with a sprinkle of iOS), culminating in a mostly happy marriage with Google's smart home ecosystem. Expect insightful articles and explorations of the ever-evolving world of Android and Google products coupled with occasional rants on the Nest smart home ecosystem.
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