Heaptalk, Jakarta — US-based tech giant Alphabet’s Google is reportedly under discussion to perform strategic investment in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Character.ai worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The investment deal is expected to enhance the existing collaboration of these tech companies. As is well known, Character.ai has operated a cloud and Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) technology of Google to guide the AI model. Through this further effort, the strategic investment is claimed to significantly back this startup to meet growing demand with its more advanced AI model training.
Founded by former Google employees Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, the Character.ai startup enables users to interact with virtual versions of celebrities or anime characters while developing chatbots and personal AI assistants. Customers can utilize this service for free and possess a subscription model for US$9.99 (Rp156,952) monthly for premium users to access the Character.ai chatbot.
The startup’s chatbot had a user demographic of 18 to 24, accounting for approximately 60% of the website’s total traffic. The user demographic is claimed to have helped the company position itself as a more enjoyable personal AI provider than other AI chatbots, proven by 100 million monthly visits in the first six months since its launch.
Apart from discussion with Google, this AI startup is also in talks with other venture capital firms for additional equity funding, with an estimated value of over US$5 billion, or equal to Rp78.5 trillion. Previously, the Character.ai company bagged fresh injection at US$150 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz as of March 2023.
However, as cited in Reuters, Google’s investment plan for this AI startup remains subject to change. The potential investment signifies Google’s strategic intention to boost the AI landscape in multiple countries technology, one of which is through collaboration with innovative startups in the field.
Previously, Google agreed to inject capital worth US$2 billion into OpenAI’s rival, Anthropic. Previously, this giant technology company had invested in this AI developer company at US$500 million as of April 2023 and took a 10% Anthropic stake. Following this early capital disbursement, Google determined to augment its investment value up to US$1.5 billion into Anthropic.
