User Revolt Erupts on X as Character AI Quit Posts Go Viral

Character.AI faced a sudden user revolt on Monday as dozens of people on X celebrated quitting the role-playing chatbot app. The revolt began after a viral screenshot sparked a wave of departures. This moment highlighted a broader debate about the deep emotional connections users formed with the app’s AI companions and the challenges of stepping away, particularly for its most devoted fans.

The backlash reached a peak when a user jubilantly declared, "Finally quit Character.AI for good, HIP HIP HOORAY!" accompanied by a GIF of a smiling anime character. The post garnered 3,800+ likes, hundreds of reposts, and more than 42,000 views, igniting a thread where users compared quitting the app to overcoming an addiction.

Another user admitted, "As someone who's stuck between relapsing and attempting to quit using Character AI right now, every single one of you is objectively correct." Similarly, many former heavy users described themselves as having been addicted to the app, often using it as a source of affection during difficult periods.

Launched in 2022 by former Google engineers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI quickly gained traction by providing customizable AI characters for purposes like role-play, comfort, and creative storytelling. Despite its controversies, reports estimate that Character.AI now has over 28 million monthly active users and has surpassed 50 million downloads on Google Play. It has also received more than 472,000 ratings on iOS platforms.

A wave of departures followed a viral screenshot posted by a user named "John Twinkatron." The screenshot depicted Character.AI's account deletion prompt, which stated:

"You’ll lose everything: Characters associated with your account, chats, the love that we shared, likes, messages, posts, and the memories we have together."

This post escalated quickly, receiving over 110,000 likes, nearly 8,000 reposts, and more than 3.6 million views within 48 hours. Many criticized the prompt as exploitative and accused the app of relying on guilt-based design to retain users. One user exclaimed, "This message is so exploitative and manipulative." Another said it was a trigger for people trying to overcome addiction.

Character.AI’s user revolt occurred amid a series of high-profile controversies. Families in the U.S. filed lawsuits alleging that its chatbots encouraged self-harm, suicide, or inappropriate interactions with minors. In response, the company implemented age-verification and safety measures, including blocking open-ended chats for users under 18.

Despite the issues, the companion-AI market continues to expand, estimated at $15 billion with projections to reach $31 billion by 2032.

A spokesperson for Character.AI told Decrypt that the company remains committed to refining safety systems as the platform grows. "We deeply value our community of millions of users and always prioritize providing them with updates on platform changes," they stated.

The company announced in October that it would restrict access for users under 18 in the U.S., effective November 25. These users will be directed to other multi-modal content creation features, including creating videos, stories, and streams with Characters. The age restrictions will roll out to other countries gradually.

"We believe our array of techniques will create a reliable system of age assurance," the spokesperson said. "We will continue to test, monitor, and iterate based on how our functionality works and evolves with technology."