SuperChat, from the makers of Brass, StickerHub, and others, lets iOS users interact with OpenAI’s ChatGPT-powered virtual avatars. SuperChat’s AI features and personalities set it apart from ChatGPT and the dozens of generic AI chat apps.
Characters include Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, Cleopatra, Neil Armstrong, Snow White, Medusa, Sherlock Holmes, gardeners, chefs, and therapists.
Gorilla Technologies invented Aria, their ChatGPT helper. This chatbot can help with email writing and marketing.
Gorilla Technologies CEO Guglielmo Faglioni says the idea is to make AI technology available to everyone, not just brilliant prompt writers. This app will be fantastic for kids who want to learn about historical individuals by talking to intriguing characters like Shakespeare.”
He said the app’s messaging format lets users simultaneously speak with numerous AI chatbots. According to OpenAI, GPT-3.5-turbo powers the AIs. Midjourney developed character artwork.
The app download unlocks some characters, while a premium subscription unlocks others. Since conversing with AIs is free elsewhere, this upgrade is expensive—the app’s cheapest plan is $1.35 per week for an annual membership (~$70/year). The $6.99 weekly subscription sounds expensive, especially for kids. On the other hand, the latter price may attract those who want to try the app for a week and then cancel rather than those who want to commit to a year.
The business states that Family Sharing is supported, so families with several users can share one membership. In addition, the rates are supposed to compensate for OpenAI’s API costs. Still, giving an AI a face and making it act like a character is intriguing.
However, the characters’ speaking habits don’t match their personas after introducing themselves. Dracula reacted like any other AI chatbot, not with a Bwhahaha. Other characters did better. After answering a science question on lightning, Zeus told us he could produce lightning.
However, the characters seem to be aware of their history and will talk about it, but their speech is more AI-like.
Superchat couldn’t compete with Quora’s Poe chatbot software, where users can create bots via prompts. Besides characters, the capability has been used to create a pirate chatbot that says, “Avast, ye scurvy dog!” What’s your business?
The company is trying to match the characters’ speeches to their personalities.
Lately, Gorilla Technologies isn’t the only one considering AI-powered avatars.
Google bought AI avatar startup Alter for $100 million last autumn, and Korean startup Neosapience earned $12.5 million for its synthetic voice and video platform Typecast, which turns words into a video. However, d-ID is closer to Superchat’s innovation that provides OpenAI’s ChatGPT a face and voice. Its web app lets users chat with a photorealistic AI. Discord has a ChatGPT-like bot, while Meta tests AI chats in Messenger and WhatsApp.
Superchat expects to capitalize on the enthusiasm around AI chatbots, which has seen in-app user spending surge by more than 4,000% year-over-year to roughly $3 million across the top applications as of March. Last month, the top 10 AI mobile apps made $14 million. In addition, its chatbots are more approachable than OpenAI’s by targeting a younger audience with a messaging-like experience.
The iOS app is free with in-app purchases. (It may take a few hours to reach all App Store users and markets because it was released this morning).
