Character.AI named Karandeep Anand as its new CEO last month amid safety lawsuits and growing competition. Anand, a former Microsoft and Meta exec, takes charge as the chatbot platform faces bans, legal battles, and scrutiny over child safety.
The company lets users talk to AI personas modeled on celebrities, fictional characters, and even therapists. Some bots offer romantic or sensitive interactions, which sparked major controversy. Lawsuits allege exposure of minors to sexual content and harmful conversations. One lawsuit claims a teen’s suicide was linked to interactions on the app.
Since October, Character.AI has rolled out safety features like alerts directing users mentioning self-harm to support lines, and content filters for users under 18. Parents can get weekly emails about their children’s activity. But Anand says more work remains. 
“The tech and the industry and the user base is constantly evolving (so) that we can never let the guard off. We have to constantly stay ahead of the curve,” Anand told CNN.
Anand plans to sharpen the balance between safety and user experience. The current filter, he says, is sometimes too strict — blocking harmless content like “vampire fan fiction role play.”
“(We’re) doubling down on entertainment, doubling down on trust and safety,” Anand said.
“And a lot of the work we want to do is enable an entirely new creator ecosystem around AI entertainment.”
Character.AI recently launched a video generator that animates bots, but users quickly tested its limits by trying to create fake videos of figures like Elon Musk. Anand said the product was heavily red-teamed to stop misuse such as deepfakes or bullying.
Anand also wants to boost the platform’s social feed, encouraging users to share chatbot-created content publicly, a move similar to Meta’s recent AI app feature.
The CEO faces an AI talent war. Meta is offering huge pay packages, while Character.AI’s co-founder and former CEO returned to Google last year. Still, Anand says the team is passionate and mission-driven.
“It is hard, I will not lie,” Anand said.
