I can rip through a book or three a week, depending on my schedule. I just truly feel like there’s nothing better than becoming immersed in the plot and, specifically, diving into the minds of the characters. I’ve always gravitated toward fantasy books, with their mesmeric world-building and action-packed scenes. Like many people, I literally ached to be at Hogwarts when I was reading the Harry Potter series for the first time. With the progress of artificial intelligence, we’re getting closer to a reality where we can dive into those favorite stories.
A new feature for Character.AI, launched Thursday, is an AI-powered role-play experience that allows you to play as a character inside your classic literature text. Called Books, the feature will launch with more than 20 public-domain titles, including Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet, and The Great Gatsby.
This new feature moves beyond Character.AI’s standard interactive open-ended chatting to an immersive storytelling experience and narrative-driven entertainment.
Character.AI seems to be taking a step back from just offering open-ended chat functionality, which can be risky for emotionally vulnerable users or teens. Google and Character.AI both settled lawsuits earlier this year related to claims that these AI chatbots caused emotional harm to minors and led children to die by suicide. Last year, Character.AI made sweeping policy and safety changes, barring anyone under the age of 18 from using the platform for open-ended chats.
Read also: Character.AI: What to Know About the Role-Playing AI Tool and Its New Video Features
You can step into a story, talk to its characters and play as one.
How Books works
To get started, you can log into the Character.AI website and decide if you want to interact with Story Modes or Alternate Universe Remixes.
In Story Modes, you can choose to role-play as a specific character from a book or as your own from Character.AI. You can then choose to follow the original plot of the story with Book arc mode or create your own narrative with Go off script mode. Character.AI plans to launch more modes soon, such as TapTale, a more guided mode that offers prewritten prompts that you can choose to drive the narrative.
Read also: Teens Can’t Talk to Character.AI’s Chatbots Anymore. Here’s What They Can Do Instead
You can play The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and interact with characters like Alice and the Duchess.
You can also completely remix the universe of classic literature with Alternate Universe Remixes. In this mode, you can set Alice in Wonderland in space or make Elizabeth Bennet a modern rom-com heroine.
Books is now available for Character.AI Plus subscribers on both mobile and web as part of Character.AI Labs.