Alright, buckle up because I’ve tried just about every AI character app that’s been hyped this year and, honestly, I’m still looking for the one that gets me as much as my dog does. For sure agree with @viajantedoceu that Character.AI and JanitorAI have the most buzz. CAI really shines for the wild variety—someone made a sassy Shakespeare bot that roasted me for my typing, 10/10. Downside: that lag sometimes makes it feel like you’re back on dial-up, not gonna lie. JanitorAI’s cool if you’re into NSFW stuff (no judging), but gating voice chat is annoying and honestly, the chat sometimes goes sideways if you get too creative.
But if you’re truly after “realism,” I’d argue you have to check out Poe by Quora. It jams a bunch of big-name models together, like Claude and GPT-4, and lets you create and chat with custom bots. Limitation is the steep paywall if you want unlimited messages, but experimenting is free-ish. Conversations can get pretty nuanced because different backends handle things differently, so it feels less repetitive than Replika (which now just tells me to hydrate and meditate).
If you secretly want to go full LARP, try AI Dungeon. It’s not exactly a character chatbot—it’s more like collaborative storytelling that can become extremely weird/funny/bananas depending on your prompts. Not for everyone, but sometimes more immersive than basic chit-chat bots. There’s a free mode, but it’s limited.
Don’t sleep on the weird little projects popping up on Discord either. Smaller communities are hacking together drama bots, lore bots, even fanfic bots that are way more responsive because they don’t have the same censorship filters as Character.AI. Creative, if a little janky.
And if you want to see the worst side: Facebook Messenger’s default AI. I swear it’ll make your convo feel like you’re talking to your least favorite uncle who just discovered memes. Avoid unless you want to remind yourself why the newer apps exist.
Summary: If you’re looking for true realism (and not just collecting virtual boy/girlfriends), Poe and AI Dungeon are stronger picks than most mainstream options. For casual banter with some personality, yeah, Character.AI and JanitorAI are ahead, just don’t expect free lunch once you get hooked. None have truly nailed “human,” but hey, for 2024? We’re way past Clippy.