- Character.ai is closing AI chat open to under 18s
- Stories is a new type of AI experience aimed at keeping teens using the site
- Stories are visual and cinematic experiences where you choose how the characters and plot progress.
In a move away from being a character-based AI chatbot, Character.ai is embracing a multimodal future by launching a new feature called Stories in an effort to keep teen users on board.
Character.ai began phasing out open chat for all users under 18 on November 24, starting in the US and expanding to other countries. The move followed the tragic case of a 14-year-old boy who spent months interacting with one of Character.ai’s chatbots before taking his own life. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, arguing that inadequate safeguards contributed to the suicide, prompting the site to implement a series of new safety measures.
Although open chat will disappear completely for users under 18, Character.ai will still offer access to features such as Interactive Feed, Imagine, Avatar FX, Streams, and now the new Stories feature.
What are Stories?
Stories make Character.ai characters co-stars in a guided visual adventure that you help create.
You choose two to three characters, choose a genre, and then select a premise (or let Character.ai generate one). From there, you are immersed in a story where you make decisions that determine where the plot goes.
Stories can be replayed with different decisions and you can compare endings with friends by sharing them in your Feed. They feel a little like watching an anime episode that pauses so you can choose what happens next.
What is it like to use?
I tried the new Stories feature and it wasn’t exactly what I expected from an AI chatbot company. Instead of generating an entire story from scratch, I used one of their pre-selected story templates: Browns and Capes – The Princess Ira Chroniclesa story about a vampire princess who hides from the Royal Guard while trying to live a normal life working in a magical cafe.
As you can imagine, this story was aimed squarely at teenagers.
It’s very visual. Each story segment includes an illustration, but instead of interacting freely with the characters, the narrative moves through fixed landmarks where you must choose between three options to determine your next action.
Personally, I found this a bit restrictive. It reminded me of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, like The Witcher of Firetop Mountainthat I read when I was a teenager.
Character.ai says more formats, features, and creative tools are coming for Stories, and that the visual presentation is solid. But if the company really wants to win over teenagers, it may need a middle ground between unrestricted AI chat and a limited set of three branching options.
Still, Stories is a promising start. It’s a safe, structured substitute for the open chat that teens really want, but it’s also a foundation. If Character.ai can turn Stories into something more flexible and less “on rails,” it could become the leader of a new type of AI entertainment.
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