Chai AI is a consumer AI companion and character chat platform operated by Chai Research. Users interact with a vast library of user-generated AI characters or create their own, spanning companionship, roleplay and entertainment. The platform was an early mover, reaching one million users by leveraging the open-source GPT-J model before mainstream chatbots launched.
Chai Research positions itself as a research lab building social-focused large language models optimized for engagement, and has publicly highlighted strong mobile engagement metrics and a character library reported in the hundreds of thousands. The product is mobile-first, with apps on iOS and Android plus web access.
The company has reported substantial scale, citing tens of millions of downloads, around a million daily active users, and significant revenue, and has discussed a multi-billion-dollar valuation trajectory. It also exposes developer access for building and deploying chat models on the platform.
Chai operates on a freemium subscription model. While the company references strategic funding rounds, specific publicly verified investor and amount details are limited, so funding is recorded conservatively here.