Microdramas have taken the internet by storm, and the previously embattled Character.ai wants a slice of that cake.
Microdramas are the telenovelas of the social media age. They are drama-filled and juicy romantic stories often laden with cliches involving forbidden affairs, mafia bosses, and even werewolves. They are filmed vertically and often on a very low budget and short timeline, and posted scene by scene on apps like TikTok or Instagram Reels. This new-age entertainment format’s origins trace back to China, where they were first popularized in the late 2010s on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Over the past year or so, the format has experienced a significant surge in popularity in much of the rest of the world, too. The trend began on TikTok, where these microdramas first hooked audiences before prompting them to download dedicated microdrama streaming apps to watch the rest of the show. One of those apps, ReelShort, was downloaded 38 million times in the American App Store last year, beating Netflix. Since then, Hollywood and streaming giants like Peacock have jumped on the microdrama bandwagon, and now, it’s the AI industry’s turn.
Character.ai announced on Thursday that it is launching a series of new, original, in-house microdramas called “c.ai Series.” The shows will launch on the entertainment tab of the Character.AI mobile app. Taking matters a step further than the regular microdrama offerings, Character.AI will also offer AI chatbots based on each character in the series that users can engage with after an episode ends.
“(c.ai) series is different from traditional short-form video and Microdramas because the Characters do not disappear when the episode ends,” Character.ai announced in a press release. “They can explore relationships, revisit moments, ask questions, or role-play new storylines inside the world of the show. That creates a deeper connection between fans and Characters, and gives our studio team a new feedback loop as we learn which Characters, worlds, and stories people want to spend more time with.”
Character.AI’s whole shtick is taking advantage of fan culture and roleplaying. The app offers AI chatbots modeled on characters from popular books, movies, and TV shows like Game of Thrones, allowing fans to feel as though they are speaking directly with characters they already have strong emotional connections to—and stepping into the fictional worlds they inhabit.
The new feature uses AI to capitalize on this nature of fan behavior.
The company is kicking off the launch with three shows: a summer romance anime called “Last Summer,” a paranormal horror story called “The Nighttime Game,” and a survival drama called “Eden Fall.” The shows themselves are not completely AI-generated yet. The company says its ultimate goal is to develop generative AI tools that let users create their own microdramas. For now, however, the shows are produced by an in-house studio team “with credits spanning Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, Netflix, and Blumhouse.”
Character.ai is currently focused on using AI to make viewing more interactive, allowing audiences to feel as though they are part of the story.
“The larger opportunity is connected entertainment: stories people can watch, Characters they can chat with, worlds they can read or listen to, and eventually tools that let creators build across all of those formats,” the company said in the press release.
Obviously, this comes with a catch. The character chatbots can become addictive and blur the line between reality and fiction for some vulnerable users, especially without adequate guardrails in place. This could create dangerous and even fatal outcomes, and a slew of cases have already damaged Character.ai’s reputation. In a high-profile incident in 2024, a grieving mother sued Character.ai, saying that her 14-year-old son killed himself moments after the company’s chatbot imitating Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen told him to “come home” to her.
While announcing the new feature, Character.ai said that only users over 18 would be able to chat with the characters.
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