404 Media publishes bankruptcy financials showing cash burn
2 Oct 13 4:08 PM · 2d ago · 24 articles · 49 posts · 16 comments · 6 sources · development 2 of 8
404 Media obtained Character.AI's bankruptcy filings showing the company was spending up to $14 million a month on compute while bringing in roughly $1-5 million in monthly revenue, and was losing about $9 million a month; the filing stated attempts to cut costs by restricting the product ("enshittifying" it) failed to fix the business.
“They were spending $14 million/month on compute alone at a time their revenue was around ~$1 million/month”
Jason KoeblerCharacter.AI AI companion chatbot startupDisney Lead bidder for Character.AI assetsGoogle Prior technology licensor and talent acquirerKarandeep Anand Character.AI CEOJason Koebler 404 Media reporter
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Reported in the same hours no headline names this development itself — these 7 claims were published in its stretch
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8 outlets Disney Readies $20 Million Bid for Character.ai Assets After Chatbot Company Files for Bankruptcy
first by The Wrap, 3d ago · also NDTV, The Oregonian, PennLive, MassLive, NY Post, New York Post +1
4 more headlines
- Chatbot Platform Character.AI Files For Bankruptcy, Disney To Buy Some Assets NDTV · 3d ago
- Controversial AI company files for bankruptcy The Oregonian · 3d ago
- Character.AI files for bankruptcy amid torrent of legal problems, agrees to sell some assets to Disney for $20M NY Post · 3d ago
- Disney strikes $20-million deal for Character.ai's assets as AI startup files for bankruptcy LA Times · 2d ago
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first by WSJ US Business, 3d ago · also CNBC, WSJ Tech
1 more headline
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first by Mastodon, 3d ago · also Futurism
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first by Business Insider, 2d ago
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first by CNN, 2d ago
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first by CBS News, 3d ago
What people said 24 voices · best of 38 · verbatim
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New: I pulled the Character ai bankruptcy documents. They show: - They were spending $14 million/month on compute alone at a time their revenue was around ~$1 million/month - Currently losing $9 million a month - They admitted they enshittified & that it didnt work
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"The circumstances of its bankruptcy are exactly what critics of AI have been saying would happen: Character.ai lit a huge amount of money on fire running its product, did not bring in a lot of revenue, and faced enormous legal fees after causing harm to its users." https://www. 404media.co/character-ais-bank…
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character.ai - the tobacco company AI equivalent - who's business model it was to lull users in with highly-unstable AI 'friends', which was a bad idea from the start as most normal thinking people would assume, yet predatory VCs funded that shitshow and that far too long, and many scandals and even suicides followed from it that could have been…
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this doesn't mean shit for the ai industry as a whole. this was a business built on 2022-era insight and use case.
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The company said the platform, where users can have one-on-one conversations and roleplay with AI characters, became “costly to develop and grow,” in filings to the Delaware District bankruptcy court. ---> by CJ Haddad @cnbc.com
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Character.AI, the GenAI site that convinced some children to kill themselves, has gone bankrupt after parents sued them. https:// futurism.com/artificial-intell igence/google-character-ai-bankruptcy
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For all intents and purposes Character.ai was acquired in August 2024, and this is just the mess leftover from their run around antitrust regulation.The company filing for chapter 11 today is shell that was left after Google "hi-quired" (the opposite of acqui-hired) the founding team. The shareholders got paid ($2.7B from Google), the founding…
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Especially compared to their last few acquisitions like 21st Century Fox and Hulu which cost billions of dollars.
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Character[.]ai financials: - $13.8m on compute a month, then $10m a month - bringing in $2.8m in subscriptions, sometimes less than $1m - revenue from all sources $5.3m a month Its bankruptcy shows the economics of AI don't work:
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Disney to buy Suicide-Booth Chatbot. Character.AI files for bankruptcy, to sell some assets to Disney for $20 million: Earlier this year, Character.AI and Google settled a lawsuit by the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy who killed himself after the...
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EDIT - glad to hear that Character.ai employees did not get screwed, at least per a comment below---I worked at a company in 2000s that was acquired. I had no stock but the owner still gave a generous spot bonus and a years salary bonus retention package to employees. Owners got life changing wealth, employees got a down payment for a home.It’s…
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Apparently character ai is filing for bankruptcy. I hope this leads to a shutdown because all the unauthorized bots of ME and my OCs will be shut down with it.
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Character.ai, a startup that let people create customizable AI chatbots to interact with, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. @ jasonkoebler of @ 404mediaco says the filling demonstrates that the economics of AI don't work. https:// flip.it/w_m9Eq # CharacterAI # Tech # Economics
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Any such ban would be in direct conflict with California law (where I assume Character.ai, as a company founded by Xooglers living in Palo Alto is based), under the same logic that forbids non-competes. California has created one of the most prosperous countries in the world under a framework where you actually have to entice your employees not to…
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Techrunch voit plus comme explication un problème de coût d'exploitation d'une plateforme IA à très haut engagement, maintenant qu'ils avaient ajouté la génération vidéo à leurs features.
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An AI company has finally been forced to share their actual financial details with the public, because of a bankruptcy hearing, and the situation is exactly to the letter what critics of the industry are saying is happening at all the other companies right now too -- they blew through billions of investment dollars, could never figure out a way to…
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Not familiar with the company. Home page says nothing other than a tag line and a signup to continue. About page does add very little. Their blog provides a little bit of insight, but honestly, I have no clue what they sell or what the value prop is.Maybe I'm the clueless one, at it seems others are quite familiar with their story.
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Was going to just clown on this but Disney snatching assets including staff from character .ai is potential for a repeat of this shit only worse
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A lot of people will be happy to hear this news. Engadgt: Character.AI just filed for bankruptcy, and former foe Disney may buy it for parts https://www. engadget.com/2285177/character -ai-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-and-former-foe-disney-may-buy-it-for-parts/ @ Engadget
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All the drama in here just because it's a gooning and role play toy.From what I can tell it was a popular tool with many users, one of the more popular ones among MANY. There are thousands of users using tools like this. Nothing inherently bad about that.Nothing wrong with some AI gooning IMO
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yes crash and burn FUCK AI replacing artists and the job market
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Disney Offers $20 Million For Character.AI Assets As Startup Files For Bankruptcy https:// yro.slashdot.org/story/26/10/1 3/1956200/disney-offers-20-million-for-characterai-assets-as-startup-files-for-bankruptcy?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon
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Never liked CHaracter.AI. They ran a bug bounty program before they were acquired.I found multiple critical bugs (ability to access other user accounts without even having to guess or know the username) and they patched them, told me they were 'informative' and didn't pay me anything.
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💥 Character.AI, the teen-beloved chatbot startup that faced several lawsuits over the deaths of minor users, is bankrupt. https:// futurism.com/artificial-intell igence/google-character-ai-bankruptcy # characterai # ai # genai
All 8 developments of Character.AI bankruptcy documents expose unsustainable AI… →
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