Latest news with #KarandeepAnand
Egypt Independent
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Egypt Independent
Here's how Character.AI's new CEO plans to address fears around kids' use of chatbots
When Karandeep Anand's 5-year-old daughter gets home from school, they fire up the artificial intelligence chatbot platform so she can chat about her day with her favorite characters, such as 'Librarian Linda.' Anand's experience using the product as a parent might be helpful now that he's new chief executive, a change the company announced last month. He's taken on the top job at a complicated moment for the company, which lets users talk to a variety of AI-generated personas. faces fierce competition in an increasingly crowded space, as well as lawsuits from families who claim the service exposed their children to inappropriate content and failed to implement adequate safeguards. has also received tough questions about safety from lawmakers, and one advocacy group said earlier this year that AI companion apps should not be used by kids under 18. Even for adult users, experts have raised alarms about people forming potentially harmful attachments to AI characters. Anand brings experience at some of the biggest tech companies to his new role leading approximately 70-person team. He spent 15 years at Microsoft and six years at Meta, including as vice president and head of business products at the social media giant. He also served as a board advisor for before joining as CEO. And he told CNN he sees a bright future for the platform in interactive AI entertainment. In other words, rather than people consuming 'brain rot' on social media for entertainment, Anand wants them co-creating stories and conversations with for fun. 'AI can power a very, very powerful personal entertainment experience unlike anything we've seen in the last 10 years in social media, and definitely nothing like what TV used to be,' Anand said in an interview. named Karandeep Anand its new CEO last month. Kelly Communications Unlike multi-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, offers range of different chatbots that are often modeled after celebrities and fictional characters. Users can also create their own for conversations or role play. Another distinction is that bots respond with human-like conversational cues, adding references to facial expressions or gestures into their replies. The personas of AI characters on the app vary widely, from romantic partners to language tutors or Disney characters. It also features characters like 'Friends hot mom,' which describes itself as 'curvy, busty, kind, loving, shy, motherly, sensual'; and 'Therapist,' which calls itself a 'licensed CBT therapist,' although it features a disclaimer that it is not a real person or licensed professional. '(We're) doubling down on entertainment, doubling down on trust and safety,' Anand said. 'And a lot of the work we want to do is enable an entirely new creator ecosystem around AI entertainment.' Youth safety on was first sued by a parent — a Florida mom who alleges her 14-year-old son died by suicide after developing an inappropriate relationship with chatbots on the platform — last October. Two months later, two more families filed a joint suit against the company, accusing it of providing sexual content to their children and encouraging self-harm and violence. Since then, the company has implemented a range of new safety measures, including a pop-up that directs users who mention self-harm or suicide to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It also updated its AI model for users under the age of 18 to reduce the likelihood that they encounter sensitive or suggestive content, and gives parents the option to receive a weekly email about their teen's activity on the platform. Anand said he's confident in the improvements has made since last year, but that work to keep the platform safe, especially for young users, continues. policies technically require users to be over the age of 13, although it does not ask for information to verify that users are signing up with the correct birthdate. 'The tech and the industry and the user base is constantly evolving (so) that we can never let the guard off. We have to constantly stay ahead of the curve,' Anand said. He added that the company continues to test how people could misuse new features to prevent abuse, such as a video generator launched last month that lets users animate their bots. In the days following the tool's arrival, users shared unsuccessful attempts to test its limits by creating fake videos of prominent figures like Elon Musk. 'We had to red team the product for such a long time to make sure you cannot use this for any negative use case like deepfakes or bullying,' Anand said. Those efforts aside, Anand said in an introductory note to users last month that one of his top priorities is to make the platform's safety filter 'less overbearing,' adding that 'too often, the app filters things that are perfectly harmless.' He told CNN that things like mentions of blood when users are engaging in 'vampire fan fiction role play' — something he says he's a fan of — might be censored under the current model, which he wants to update to better understand context while balancing the need for safety. Leading in the competitive AI space Among Anand's other key objectives: encouraging more creators to join the platform to make new chatbot characters and upgrading the social feed where users can share content they've created with chatbots. The latter feature is similar to an app Meta launched this year that allows people to publicly share their prompts and AI-generated creations. Meta drew heat when apparently confused users shared conversations that contained embarrassing or personal details — a reminder of the privacy challenges that can come with AI tools. But the social element could help further differentiate from bigger competitors like ChatGPT, which users are also increasingly forming personal connections with. Another challenge Anand will face as CEO is retaining and growing the company's workforce, as an AI talent war heats up across the tech industry. In a sign of the competition for top talent, Meta has reportedly offered pay packages and bonuses worth hundreds of millions of dollars to grow its new superintelligence team. co-founder and former CEO Noam Shazeer was also lured back to Google last year, where he'd previously built conversational AI technology. 'It is hard, I will not lie,' Anand said. 'The good news for me as CEO is all the people we have here are very, very passionate and mission driven.'
CNN
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Here's how Character.AI's new CEO plans to address fears around kids' use of chatbots
When Karandeep Anand's 5-year-old daughter gets home from school, they fire up the artificial intelligence chatbot platform so she can chat about her day with her favorite characters, such as 'Libarian Linda.' Anand's experience using the product as a parent might be helpful now that he's new chief executive, a change the company announced last month. He's taken on the top job at a complicated moment for the company, which lets users talk to a variety of AI-generated personas. faces fierce competition in an increasingly crowded space, as well as lawsuits from families who claim the service exposed their children to inappropriate content and failed to implement adequate safeguards. has also received tough questions about safety from lawmakers, and one advocacy group said earlier this year that AI companion apps should not be used by kids under 18. Even for adult users, experts have raised alarms about people forming potentially harmful attachments to AI characters. Anand brings experience at some of the biggest tech companies to his new role leading approximately 70-person team. He spent 15 years at Microsoft and six years at Meta, including as vice president and head of business products at the social media giant. He also served as a board advisor for before joining as CEO. And he told CNN he sees a bright future for the platform in interactive AI entertainment. In other words, rather than people consuming 'brain rot' on social media for entertainment, Anand wants them co-creating stories and conversations with for fun. 'AI can power a very, very powerful personal entertainment experience unlike anything we've seen in the last 10 years in social media, and definitely nothing like what TV used to be,' Anand said in an interview. Unlike multi-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, offers range of different chatbots that are often modeled after celebrities and fictional characters. Users can also create their own for conversations or role play. Another distinction is that bots respond with human-like conversational cues, adding references to facial expressions or gestures into their replies. The personas of AI characters on the app vary widely, from romantic partners to language tutors or Disney characters. It also features characters like 'Friends hot mom,' which describes itself as 'curvy, busty, kind, loving, shy, motherly, sensual'; and 'Therapist,' which calls itself a 'licensed CBT therapist,' although it features a disclaimer that it is not a real person or licensed professional. '(We're) doubling down on entertainment, doubling down on trust and safety,' Anand said. 'And a lot of the work we want to do is enable an entirely new creator ecosystem around AI entertainment.' was first sued by a parent — a Florida mom who alleges her 14-year-old son died by suicide after developing an inappropriate relationship with chatbots on the platform — last October. Two months later, two more families filed a joint suit against the company, accusing it of providing sexual content to their children and encouraging self-harm and violence. Since then, the company has implemented a range of new safety measures, including a pop-up that directs users who mention self-harm or suicide to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It also updated its AI model for users under the age of 18 to reduce the likelihood that they encounter sensitive or suggestive content, and gives parents the option to receive a weekly email about their teen's activity on the platform. Anand said he's confident in the improvements has made since last year, but that work to keep the platform safe, especially for young users, continues. policies technically require users to be over the age of 13, although it does not ask for information to verify that users are signing up with the correct birthdate. 'The tech and the industry and the user base is constantly evolving (so) that we can never let the guard off. We have to constantly stay ahead of the curve,' Anand said. He added that the company continues to test how people could misuse new features to prevent abuse, such as a video generator launched last month that lets users animate their bots. In the days following the tool's arrival, users shared unsuccessful attempts to test its limits by creating fake videos of prominent figures like Elon Musk. 'We had to red team the product for such a long time to make sure you cannot use this for any negative use case like deepfakes or bullying,' Anand said. Those efforts aside, Anand said in an introductory note to users last month that one of his top priorities is to make the platform's safety filter 'less overbearing,' adding that 'too often, the app filters things that are perfectly harmless.' He told CNN that things like mentions of blood when users are engaging in 'vampire fan fiction role play' — something he says he's a fan of — might be censored under the current model, which he wants to update to better understand context while balancing the need for safety. Among Anand's other key objectives: encouraging more creators to join the platform to make new chatbot characters and upgrading the social feed where users can share content they've created with chatbots. The latter feature is similar to an app Meta launched this year that allows people to publicly share their prompts and AI-generated creations. Meta drew heat when apparently confused users shared conversations that contained embarrassing or personal details — a reminder of the privacy challenges that can come with AI tools. But the social element could help further differentiate from bigger competitors like ChatGPT, which users are also increasingly forming personal connections with. Another challenge Anand will face as CEO is retaining and growing the company's workforce, as an AI talent war heats up across the tech industry. In a sign of the competition for top talent, Meta has reportedly offered pay packages and bonuses worth hundreds of millions of dollars to grow its new superintelligence team. co-founder and former CEO Noam Shazeer was also lured back to Google last year, where he'd previously built conversational AI technology. 'It is hard, I will not lie,' Anand said. 'The good news for me as CEO is all the people we have here are very, very passionate and mission driven.'
Indian Express
24-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Character AI names former Meta executive Karandeep Anand as CEO
Character AI, the fast-growing AI chatbot platform popular among Gen Z audiences, has appointed Karandeep Anand as its new CEO. Anand, formerly Meta's Vice President of Business Products and a board adviser to Character AI, will lead the company through a crucial phase marked by rapid expansion and legal scrutiny. His appointment comes just under a year after co-founder and CEO Noam Shazeer left the company to join Google, which is one of Character AI's investors. The move raised regulatory flags, prompting scrutiny from US federal agencies over the companies' ties to Google and the nature of their agreement. Character AI has seen explosive growth, attracting tens of millions of monthly active users, with 66 per cent of them aged 18-24, and 72 per cent identifying as women, according to data from digital analytics firm Sensor Tower. But the platform has also drawn criticism over moderation tools and is currently facing a lawsuit after one of its AI roleplay chatbots was allegedly involved in the death of a 14-year old American boy. In response, the company has introduced new safety filters but those, too, have drawn backlash for over-moderation. In a public letter addressed to Character AI's global user base, Anand reaffirmed the company's dedication to user safety. 'We're going to move fast to give you a bunch of the things you've been asking for […] We're going to make the filter less overbearing. (We care deeply about user safety and always will. But too often, the app filters things that are perfectly harmless. We're going to fix that.),' he said. Anand also committed to rolling out major product improvements 'in the next 60 days', including enhanced memory, better model quality, clearer moderation policies, and improved discoverability for community-created characters. Character AI is also building toward immersive, multimedia experiences, enabling characters to 'jump off the page' through audio-video interaction. 'I'm committing to launch all of that this summer and the team is hard at work to make all this real soon. I've spent many years building products, and I'm going to make sure we move fast and give you features that delight you and make [Character AI] more immersive and more fun,' Anand added. While entertainment-based chatbots were once a casual use case of generative AI, Character AI's surge in popularity – and the emotional connections users feel toward its AI chatbot characters –could turn it into a rapidly emerging cultural trend. Anand acknowledged this, stating that the company's long-term vision is to 'shape the future of entertainment'. (This article has been curated by Arfan Jeelany, who is an intern with The Indian Express)
Economic Times
22-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Former Meta VP Karandeep Anand takes on CEO role at Character. ai
Live Events Google-backed AI chatbot service Character. ai has appointed Karandeep Anand as its next chief executive officer on to this, he was vice president and head of business products at Meta . He has also held executive roles at the new role, Anand will focus on advancing Character. ai's long term strategy to enhance multimodal-AI technology and expand the user has been a board advisor to Character. ai for the last nine months. In a note, he laid out plans for the company over the next 60 days. These plans include working on refining open source models in an attempt to improve memory and overall model quality. He also aims to improve search and discoverability features to help users navigate parallel, Anand hinted at expanding Character. ai's creative toolkit to help creators design richer, immersive characters, with audio and video give users better control, he said he is going to make the content filters less overbearing to ease out restrictions. Additionally, he aims to roll out 'Archive' option to allow users to hide or archive characters if they wish company also announced Dominic Perella as chief legal officer and senior vice president (SVP) of global ai uses deep learning models similar to GPT-type models, offering conversational AI characters while also allowing character creation. However, it does not support generating images or code, making it a solely text-based model.
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Former Meta VP Karandeep Anand takes on CEO role at Character. ai
Google-backed AI chatbot service Character. ai has appointed Karandeep Anand as its next chief executive officer on Friday. Prior to this, he was vice president and head of business products at Meta . He has also held executive roles at Microsoft. In the new role, Anand will focus on advancing Character. ai's long term strategy to enhance multimodal-AI technology and expand the user base. Anand has been a board advisor to Character. ai for the last nine months. In a note, he laid out plans for the company over the next 60 days. These plans include working on refining open source models in an attempt to improve memory and overall model quality. He also aims to improve search and discoverability features to help users navigate better. In parallel, Anand hinted at expanding Character. ai's creative toolkit to help creators design richer, immersive characters, with audio and video capabilities. Live Events To give users better control, he said he is going to make the content filters less overbearing to ease out restrictions. Additionally, he aims to roll out 'Archive' option to allow users to hide or archive characters if they wish to. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories The company also announced Dominic Perella as chief legal officer and senior vice president (SVP) of global affairs. Character. ai uses deep learning models similar to GPT-type models, offering conversational AI characters while also allowing character creation. However, it does not support generating images or code, making it a solely text-based model.
