Tech Translator
Character.AI
Explained for parents by The Digital Childhood.
What it means
An app where you chat with AI characters that other people make, from anime heroes to made up boyfriends and girlfriends. The characters remember you and write back like a real person, at any hour. In late 2025 the company stopped letting anyone under 18 have open ended chats, and now it checks ages with its own tools and can ask for a selfie or an ID, though a determined kid can still sometimes get past it.
How to bring it up with your kid
"Have you tried Character.AI, or do your friends use it? Who do you talk to on there?" I'd ask it curious and just listen. If they feel like one of the characters really knows them, that's the part I'd want to talk through, because the app is built to feel that way.
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