4 ms·

Open-source, uncensored alternative to CharacterAI

37 points by bobcoi 2y ago

bobcoi 2y ago
code: https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter I built this because users where angry at c.ai for shutting down the old site and implementing more filters and censors. So I rebuilt the old ui and used models on OpenRouter to power everything Have nearly all the features, edit, regenerate, public/private characters, personas.
- sandwichsphinx 2y ago
  great project, any plans to implement voice chat features?
- mmaunder 2y ago
  How is openrouter working out?
  - bobcoi 2y ago
    really nice. Just one API you get access to 100+ models If I want to change models I just change one line of code. Pricing is pretty fair as well they just charge a % on top
    - mmaunder 2y ago
      Do you think you'll switch to running local models at some point e.g. LambdaLabs/Runpod running Llama to reduce costs? Just thinking about as you scale and wanting to reduce cost per token. (I'm not in the GPU hosting biz - just curious because I think we're all thinking about this)
- notavalleyman 2y ago
  Is there any censorship in this space which you think is acceptable, or is all censorship inappropriate, in your opinion. Obviously, the public gets no benefit when you censor some guy from doing his business in private. But you're also in danger of providing sexualised child characters for people to jerk off to. How do you square all of this, I'm interested in hearing how you approached this problem
  - bobcoi 2y ago
    I think I'm taking the Twitter approach. As long as it is not illegal it's fine
    - majestik 2y ago
      How do you know if it’s illegal?
    - notavalleyman 2y ago
      Can you explain more about how you settled at 'fine' when it comes to providing sexualised child characters for pedos to jerk off to? Like, is there not some part of that which you feel less than 'fine' about? I'm not saying that you're wrong or need to stop - just very curious about how/whether you approached the issue.
      - lostmsu 2y ago
        Not author, but these are just pixels.
      - nh23423fefe 2y ago
        do you imagine caring about pixels is moral and good behavior? isnt it demented and unhinged to concern yourself?
    - krapp 2y ago
      That isn't the Twitter approach. Twitter bans legal content all the time.
  - paulluuk 2y ago
    > Obviously, the public gets no benefit when you censor some guy from doing his business in private. > But you're also in danger of providing sexualised child characters for people to jerk off to. I would say that anything is fine in private, even that. Better than them looking for the real thing, right? I guess some people are afraid that such content will actually turn people into pedo's, but I don't think that's true any more than watching gay porn will turn you gay.
chancemehmu 2y ago
how do you plan to compete with Dippy AI? They have a similar thesis and a better design imo
- wifipunk 2y ago
  Why compare this to Dippy AI of all things? Looks like a platform/app targeting a different type of AI character consumer. Also I see nothing about Dippy being open source.
makebelievelol 2y ago
Glad to see more people in this space, we are also working on something similar. Congrats on shipping!
random_upvoter 2y ago
The thing I like best about character.ai is their TTS. Does anyone have an idea what engine they use? I don't suppose they invented their own system from scratch.
- lordswork 2y ago
  Character.ai does invent everything from scratch (for better and worse).
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
qsort 2y ago
Can we please not have the HN front page be weird porn?
- pilotneko 2y ago
  It was a bit surprising to click this link on my VPN. Wish it had a NSFW tag. Uncensored is a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to GenAI, half of the time is just means "no instruction tuning."
  - swatcoder 2y ago
    The link should probably just be the GitHub repo. It's an interesting project and discussion topic (although maybe a little flamewar inviting), but it doesn't seem necessary to link to the product itself in this case.
- nickthegreek 2y ago
  For those downvoting, click the link. The HN url should have been https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter The URL submitted tells nothing about the project and immediately displays questionable images.
trodal89 2y ago
Requires a Google sign-in to chat, not ideal for such a sexualised service.
- from-nibly 2y ago
  Don't worry, once Google catches wind of "thing they don't like" they will kill the oauth connection.
elevenoh4 2y ago
seems you're using both open & closed source models i just tried it out. solid, but doesn't seem as uncensored or capable as e.g. https://uncensored.com/ai https://uncensored.com/ai btw: do u know whether c.ai actually parses tone/emotion from voice (or just from the SpeechToText stream?

37 points by bobcoi 2y ago

code: https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter I built this because users where angry at c.ai for shutting down the old site and implementing more filters and censors. So I rebuilt the old ui and used models on OpenRouter to power everything Have nearly all the features, edit, regenerate, public/private characters, personas.

sandwichsphinx 2y ago
great project, any plans to implement voice chat features?
mmaunder 2y ago
How is openrouter working out?
- bobcoi 2y ago
  really nice. Just one API you get access to 100+ models If I want to change models I just change one line of code. Pricing is pretty fair as well they just charge a % on top
  - mmaunder 2y ago
    Do you think you'll switch to running local models at some point e.g. LambdaLabs/Runpod running Llama to reduce costs? Just thinking about as you scale and wanting to reduce cost per token. (I'm not in the GPU hosting biz - just curious because I think we're all thinking about this)
notavalleyman 2y ago
Is there any censorship in this space which you think is acceptable, or is all censorship inappropriate, in your opinion. Obviously, the public gets no benefit when you censor some guy from doing his business in private. But you're also in danger of providing sexualised child characters for people to jerk off to. How do you square all of this, I'm interested in hearing how you approached this problem
- bobcoi 2y ago
  I think I'm taking the Twitter approach. As long as it is not illegal it's fine
  - majestik 2y ago
    How do you know if it’s illegal?
  - notavalleyman 2y ago
    Can you explain more about how you settled at 'fine' when it comes to providing sexualised child characters for pedos to jerk off to? Like, is there not some part of that which you feel less than 'fine' about? I'm not saying that you're wrong or need to stop - just very curious about how/whether you approached the issue.
    - lostmsu 2y ago
      Not author, but these are just pixels.
    - nh23423fefe 2y ago
      do you imagine caring about pixels is moral and good behavior? isnt it demented and unhinged to concern yourself?
  - krapp 2y ago
    That isn't the Twitter approach. Twitter bans legal content all the time.
- paulluuk 2y ago
  > Obviously, the public gets no benefit when you censor some guy from doing his business in private. > But you're also in danger of providing sexualised child characters for people to jerk off to. I would say that anything is fine in private, even that. Better than them looking for the real thing, right? I guess some people are afraid that such content will actually turn people into pedo's, but I don't think that's true any more than watching gay porn will turn you gay.

chancemehmu 2y ago

how do you plan to compete with Dippy AI? They have a similar thesis and a better design imo

wifipunk 2y ago
Why compare this to Dippy AI of all things? Looks like a platform/app targeting a different type of AI character consumer. Also I see nothing about Dippy being open source.

makebelievelol 2y ago

Glad to see more people in this space, we are also working on something similar. Congrats on shipping!

random_upvoter 2y ago

The thing I like best about character.ai is their TTS. Does anyone have an idea what engine they use? I don't suppose they invented their own system from scratch.

lordswork 2y ago
Character.ai does invent everything from scratch (for better and worse).
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

qsort 2y ago

Can we please not have the HN front page be weird porn?

pilotneko 2y ago
It was a bit surprising to click this link on my VPN. Wish it had a NSFW tag. Uncensored is a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to GenAI, half of the time is just means "no instruction tuning."
- swatcoder 2y ago
  The link should probably just be the GitHub repo. It's an interesting project and discussion topic (although maybe a little flamewar inviting), but it doesn't seem necessary to link to the product itself in this case.
nickthegreek 2y ago
For those downvoting, click the link. The HN url should have been https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter https://github.com/bobcoi03/opencharacter The URL submitted tells nothing about the project and immediately displays questionable images.

trodal89 2y ago

Requires a Google sign-in to chat, not ideal for such a sexualised service.

from-nibly 2y ago
Don't worry, once Google catches wind of "thing they don't like" they will kill the oauth connection.

elevenoh4 2y ago

seems you're using both open & closed source models i just tried it out. solid, but doesn't seem as uncensored or capable as e.g. https://uncensored.com/ai https://uncensored.com/ai btw: do u know whether c.ai actually parses tone/emotion from voice (or just from the SpeechToText stream?