According to a report by The Information on the 31st local time, Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI is considering acquiring chatbot manufacturer Character.AI because it is looking for more ways to test the Grok chatbot.
The report also notes that the discussion "probably won't" lead to a deal, but discussions within xAI suggest that this type of collaboration is likely to become more common in the future as small AI startups like Character.AI face the high cost of training and running models as they compete with deep-pocketed "big fish."
With the growing demand for AI, tech giants are competing for scarce AI resources, and most of them are choosing to partner with AI startups. In May of this year, there were media reports that Meta and Character.AI were in discussions about a partnership. In addition, xAI was also in talks with Character.AI about a partnership at the time, but "no agreement has been reached."
IT Home Note: Founded by former Google employees Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI users can create their own chatbots and AI assistants, which are divided into two versions, paid and free, with the paid version costing $9.99 per month (currently about 72 yuan).
Character.AI's chatbot has a variety of roles and tones to choose from, with 18-24-year-old users contributing about 60% of website traffic.