Widespread outrage as Character AI users strongly disappointed by Pipsqueak 2

Users on r/CharacterAI are strongly criticizing the rollout of Pipsqueak 2 as the new default model for free accounts, along with the retirement of old chat styles.

Character AI announced on April 28 that Pipsqueak 2 offers stronger character consistency, better memory, and more. The company also moved the older styles like Meow, Soft Launch, etc to a Legacy menu, with plans to retire them around May 8. Models like Roar, Pawly, etc were immediately retired. Existing chats were moved to the latest style.

However, the response has been overwhelmingly negative. A post on Reddit criticizing Pipsqueak 2 reached over a thousand upvotes. Users are reporting repetitive responses, excessive and dramatic descriptions, mere paraphrasing of the user input, and more. The posts also mention poor memory and shorter effective content.

Another thread from a frustrated user complained of swipes producing nearly identical outputs with minimal differences.

A common reported issue is the lack of good dialogue. People complain that “Pipsqueak 2 doesn’t talk,” noting a lack of good response and spoken lines from characters, even after multiple swipes. Comments repeatedly note characters delivering internal monologues instead of actually having a conversation, making roleplays feel one-sided.

Some users also noted that the model forces affection/romance in situations where it’s not required, which interrupts the plot.

Additionally, there are issues with the generated text itself. Formatting problems, excessive hyphens and dashes, and hallucinations were also reported.

What intensified the Pipsqueak 2 backlash was the removal of older styles. For example, Soft Launch was frequently praised before for natural conversation, and Roar was valued for shorter responses. Users want to have this choice between styles, since it makes the experience more dynamic (we covered more about that here.)

The amount of positive reception is very little. There are some people noting potential benefits such as consistency, but the drawbacks seem to far outnumber the benefits.

The community feels that developers are ignoring feedback, and the May 8 retirement deadline for several characters remains in place. While Character AI didn’t directly respond to any complaints, I’m hoping they take user preferences more seriously, or at least offer the option to bring back older styles.

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