Character.ai Files for Bankruptcy
theverge.com[dupe] Earlier on source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50068036
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Hitler dead
archived, no trackers: https://nonograph.com/characterai-files-for-bankruptcy-10-13...
And so, it begins. The first domino has fallen.
I'm gonna go, grab some popcorn and cry a few tears... tears of joy.
I had a conversation with someone some time in 2024 about Character Ai, wondering how something so obviously exploitative could exist, one data point to consider.
Fallen? The founders and about 30 researchers took a $2.7 billion exit from Google in 2024.
I don't know if there is something to be joyful about.
AI won't go away, it will just end up being a monopoly.
There won't be a monopoly. Too many open weight models floating around.
The thing I'm looking forward to is the unsustainable bubble collapsing. It cannot happen fast enough, because with every day it grows, the consequences of the collapse will get worse. And it, purely mathematically, has to collapse - there is no such thing as infinite growth, and some day the investors want their money back that justifies the valuation.
A monopoly on not making money
The military doesn't make any money too. It has still a thriving private sector around it and basically runs on taxpayer money.
I guess if you think LLMs are the new standing army this is a good point
It is a weapon already. So why so ignorant/naive?
Also: countries have been subsidising less useful things too.
I don't think I know of anyone who denies the value of AI. I think 95% of the people who use it know that it is a tool and are angry / dismayed / confused about companies that are parading it around like a drop in replacement for anything.
Photoshop is a tool, vs code is a tool, git is a tool, excel is a tool. No one expected these to autonomously generate money.
People will be happy that the 5% who are delusional are going to be forced to reckon with the lies they've told themselves.
As an aside, I believe there will be a huge surge in crypto hype again once these sorts of get rich quick with AI schemes dry up.
Crypto always has been backed by the natural demand of drug consumers, drug dealers and drug sellers. Now with marijuana being somewhat legalized in more and more parts of the world and everyone being able to see that the war on cocaine is all but lost... I think the demand for crypto will not recover any more.
It's also an incredibly convenient way to move a huge amount of wealth around without the tax man taking a look.
calling this a domino is pretty funny. "the first tiddlywink has spontaneously disintegrated"
It only takes a pebble to start a landslide.
Most pebbles don't start landslides, but almost all landslides started with a pebble.
Remember that almost all the "value" in AI companies right now is based on perception, not reported profits.
So Character.ai is Jay Cooke & Company ? ;-)
wow tontines are fascinating! fwiw, i just meant that c.ai was a domino before it got hollowed out by an acquipoach
Pets.com became the emblem of the dot com bubble. Obviously there was a fortune to be made in online retail but they didn’t have it
Will c.ai be the pets.com of this bubble?
I mean a famous AI company filing for bankrupcy might get some investors to hold their breath, given how also OpenAI and Anthropic aren't profitable.