Picture used for illustrative purposes.

Recent virtual assistants that answer questions from the public, such as ChatGPT, have caught people’s fancy like nothing else. Now there is a new innovation called Character.AI, which takes such conversations to a whole new level.

Artificial intelligence has now started playing a key role in our lives. Virtual assistants that answer questions from people, as can be seen with Etisalat, have shown the impressive strides artificial intelligence has made. For some time now, many have been chatting about ChatGPT, which has caught everyone’s fancy. Now there is a new one: Character.AI.

What’s special about this novelty is that you can talk to a reasonable facsimile of almost anyone, real or imagined. According to the New York Times, the celebrities could be living, or, hold your breath, even dead. Imagine talking to Sherlock Holmes or in a more contemporary vein, Tom Cruise or even Ed Sheeran. Now that will be some talk.

Truly artificial intelligence has been making waves. ChatGPT, the conversational chatbot, has enthralled a lot of investors, tech giants and the general masses since making its appearance last year.

Created by the firm OpenAI, it is a free chatbot that's available online. You can ask ChatGPT anything, such as show me some healthy food ideas, and it will answer rightaway. It can also reportedly do things like write poems, songs and essays.