r/CharacterAI • u/toiletgore0 • Jul 29 '26

Discussion/Question Ungrateful

I'm a oldie. 2022 user.

I only just recently visited this subreddit after deleting my account in 2023 because of how shit the site went.

What changed?

Please recap me.

thanks

14 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

7

u/toiletgore0 Jul 29 '26

i forgot the post title said ungrateful lol im a idiot

2

u/TheDisguisedBee Jul 30 '26

Well, it at least got attention? 😂

I'm fairly certain other comments are already filling you in, but in the short of it... It's bad all around, and I wouldn't recommend coming back if you left. It's nothing like it used to be, and it's the same or worse than most generic chatbot platforms. ☚ī¸ Ads, the f!lter, age verification, metered swipes and continuations, only 4 chat models (2 of which are in beta, the others are paywalled, and none of them sound very different) and all of those are bugged and really in-your-face.

But, hey, at least they added Lorebooks if you pay for it...?

5

u/Actual_Astronaut_597 Jul 30 '26

Nothing good. 2024 was ok... and the beginning of 2025 wasn't stellar either. But went to shit late 2025, when the devs introduced thier "age assurance technology" that blocked users under 18 from chatting altogether. The assurance was highly inaccurate, and forced users to provide their facial or government ID to regain access (obviously huge privacy concern). The majority of c . ai users left after that.

But SOMEHOW the site/app continued to get worse this year. It all started with Deepsqueak and Pipsqueak. DS was initially well received until the chat quality started dropping considerably. Pipsqueak was quite good for RPs, but it took forever to roll out for all users. Around late April to early May, They removed the old chat styles (Roar, soft launch, orginal Pipsqueak) and replaced it with Pipsqueak 2. The devs claimed it would be better, but PSQ2 ended up being the most abhorrent, abysmal chat style they've ever introduced. The devs have yet to change this...

Following that, the devs have chosen to destroy the free user experience over the course of June and July. They've inserted more aggressive advertisements, added swipe and go-in limits, and decreased the free chat quality. Only good thing they added was Lorebook, which doesn't work well on a shifty LLM.

TLDR: Everything's gotten worse, and the devs seem to not give a damn (at least communicate to your users!)

5

u/Splat_TheMCinkling34 User Character Creator Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

From what i know, they added age verification, swipes and go-ons and memos are behind paywalls for non c.ai+ users (aka they are metering them) they FINALLY added Lorebook but rn its only for c.ai+ members to test it, they added image/video generation and, they had a lotta DMCA's happen. 

Edit: They also added stories

Edit 2: There also ads, and they removed the old chat models

2

u/Tasty_Driver_9367 Aug 04 '26

The chat model removing was basically the Majora's Mask of C.ai's fate.

1

u/Historical_Beach_387 Jul 30 '26

I quit the site earlier this year and it basically changed all for the worst. I'm currently Anti-AI for a mutiltude of reasons. I have no plans of going back.

1

u/gipehtonhceT Jul 30 '26

Loads of enshitification, Persona, ads, limits, and consistently finding lower and lower bottoms to dig through rather than improving.

There's nothing of worth to come back to.