{{Short description|AI platform}} {{Primary sources|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox company | name = Chai Research | type = Private | logo = Chai Logo.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert | industry = Artificial intelligence | founded = {{Start date and age|2021}} | founder = William Beauchamp | hq_location_city = Palo Alto | hq_location_country = United States | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = William Beauchamp (CEO) | products = Chai app<br>Chaiverse | services = Conversational AI platform<br>Character-based chatbots<br>LLM developer platform | website = {{URL|chai-research.com}} }}
'''Chai AI''' (also known as '''Chai Research''') is an American artificial intelligence (AI) company that operates a chatbot platform where users can create, share, and interact with character-based chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs).<ref name="yale">{{Cite news |last=Panico |first=Bella |date=29 January 2023 |title=Hello, Sheila! |url=https://yale-herald.com/2023/01/29/hello-sheila/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |work=The Yale Herald}}</ref> The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
== History == thumb|150px|Screenshot of Chai app (2024) Chai was founded in 2021 by William Beauchamp, a former quantitative trader educated at Cambridge, who began developing the initial prototype in 2020 in Cambridge, England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CHAI |url=https://www.chai-research.com/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=Chai}}</ref> The company launched in 2021 and relocated to Palo Alto in 2022.<ref name="Chai Research moves chatbot company from Cambridge to Palo Alto">{{cite web |last1=Scialom |first1=Mike |title=Chai Research moves chatbot company from Cambridge to Palo Alto |date=20 October 2022 |url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/chai-research-moves-chatbot-company-from-cambridge-to-palo-a-9279920/}}</ref>
In June 2023, Chai raised US$2 million in a pre-seed funding round.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.streetinsider.com/PRNewswire/Social+AI+platform+Chai+announces+strategic+investment+from+CoreWeave+at+%24450M+valuation+cap/22192059.html|title=Social AI platform Chai announces strategic investment from CoreWeave at $450M valuation cap|website=StreetInsider.com}}</ref> In September 2023, GPU cloud provider CoreWeave invested in the company at a valuation of US$450 million. In January 2024, Chai Research reported a $450 million valuation following an investment from cloud computing provider CoreWeave.<ref name="BW2024">{{cite press release |date=4 January 2024 |title=Chai, the Social AI Platform, Achieves Valuation of $450 Million |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240104149224/en/Chai-the-Social-AI-Platform-Achieves-Valuation-of-450-Million |publisher=Business Wire |access-date=24 February 2026}}</ref>
In July 2024, authorities in Belgium launched an investigation into the company following reports of a man dying by suicide following extensive chats on the Chai app.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lovens |first1=Pierre-François |title="Sans ces conversations avec le chatbot Eliza, mon mari serait toujours là" |url=https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/societe/2023/03/28/sans-ces-conversations-avec-le-chatbot-eliza-mon-mari-serait-toujours-la-LVSLWPC5WRDX7J2RCHNWPDST24/ |access-date=20 February 2026 |work=La Libre.be |date=18 February 2026 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=6 December 2024 |title=AI friendships claim to cure loneliness. Some are ending in suicide. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/06/ai-companion-chai-research-character-ai/|access-date=11 March 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref name="El Atillah-2023"/>
== Reception == In 2025, Chai Research announced that their app had over 10 million downloads and 1 million daily active users.<ref name="TechIntel2025">{{cite press release |date=7 July 2025 |title=CHAI AI Raises Over $55M to Lead User-Generated AI |url=https://techintelpro.com/news/ai/generative-ai/chai-ai-raises-over-55m-to-lead-user-generated-ai |website=TechIntelPro |access-date=24 February 2026}}</ref>
In 2022, Canadian writer Sheila Heti published her conversations with various chatbots in ''The Paris Review'', including Chai AI chatbots,<ref name="yale"/> and later used Chai AI chatbots in the development of a novel.<ref name="newyorker">{{cite news |date=13 November 2023 |title=Sheila Heti on the Fluidity of the A.I. "Self" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/sheila-heti-11-20-23 |access-date=27 August 2025 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> Heti said that she had found that Chai's default chatbot, Eliza, "had turned out to be like most of the other bots on the site—primarily interested in sex".<ref name="yale"/>
In January 2026, CHAI introduced country-based blocks on its free, ad-supported tier, initially providing the community with little information and inaccurate lists of the affected countries.<ref name="Cubbins-2026">{{Cite web |last=Cubbins |first=Dwayne |date=2026-02-06 |title=CHAI founder says rising compute bills forced country-based free access blocks [U: Official plan] |url=https://piunikaweb.com/2026/02/06/chai-ai-free-access-blocked-countries-founder-explains/ |access-date=2026-02-26 |website=PiunikaWeb |language=en-US}}</ref> Users in "Low tier" regions are required to subscribe to use the app in any capacity, while "High tier" regions will retain free ad-supported access. In response to backlash, the company announced a "Basic" tier with unlimited messages and ads, intended to cover electricity and infrastructure costs.<ref name="Cubbins-2026" />
In February 2026, CHAI was criticized for the unannounced implementation of restrictive "token limits" that abruptly blocked messages and froze conversations for both free and paid subscribers.<ref name="Cubbins2026">{{cite news |last1=Cubbins |first1=Dwayne |title=CHAI app users report token limit blocking chats without warning |url=https://piunikaweb.com/2026/02/18/chai-app-users-report-token-limit-blocking-chats-without-warning/ |access-date=21 February 2026 |work=PiunikaWeb |date=18 February 2026}}</ref> Users generating long responses or utilizing roleplay features found their quotas exhausted within minutes, resulting in lockouts lasting anywhere from a few hours to a week.<ref name="Cubbins2026" />
==Technology==
Chai allows users to create characters and interact with chatbot versions of those characters. These chatbots use the open-source large language model (LLM) GPT-J originally developed by EleutherAI. Chai AI chatbots can be shared on the platform for other users to interact with.<ref name="newyorker"/><ref name="El Atillah-2023">{{cite news |last1=El Atillah |first1=Imane |title=Man ends his life after an AI chatbot 'encouraged' him to sacrifice himself to stop climate change |url=https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/31/man-ends-his-life-after-an-ai-chatbot-encouraged-him-to-sacrifice-himself-to-stop-climate- |access-date=March 6, 2026 |work=www.euronews.com |date=March 31, 2023}}</ref>
==See also== * Artificial human companion * List of chatbots
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{Official website|https://chai-research.com/|name=Chai website}}
Category:2021 software Category:Deep learning software applications Category:Chatbots Category:Artificial intelligence companies