Character.AI announced the launch of c.ai Series in July 2026 — short-form, episodic animated videos designed to be watched and interacted with on mobile devices. The move expands the company’s platform beyond its existing chatbot, interactive books, comics, and audio drama offerings.
Unlike competing microdrama apps such as ReelShort and DramaBox, which feature live-action productions with human performers, c.ai Series are animated and produced using generative AI. The company is launching with three titles: Last Summer, an anime-styled romance about secret admirers; The Nighttime Game, a story about friends playing a deadly card game; and Eden Fall, which follows elite MMO players entering a virtual reality world. Each series launches with 10 episodes under two minutes long. The first eight episodes are free; the final two require a paid subscription.
Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand said the company worked with Hollywood screenwriters and a human-led in-house studio team to develop scripts and detailed story bibles before feeding them into the company’s proprietary AI pipeline to generate visuals and audio. “This isn’t just a one-off thing we’re doing because microdramas are the next cool thing; it’s a very natural extension of what our users are already doing,” Anand said.
After watching each episode, users will be able to chat with characters from the series. Each episode’s chatbot runs on a dedicated LLM trained only on information already shown on screen, a design choice Anand said is intended to prevent spoilers.
At launch, c.ai Series is restricted to users 18 and older. Anand said younger users will eventually be able to watch the shows, but will not be permitted to interact with the series chatbots — a policy he linked to the company’s broader safety measures following past controversies involving minors on the platform.
The microdrama market is projected to reach $26 billion in the coming years, according to the company. Character.AI also said it plans to open its AI production tools to outside creators in the future, allowing them to produce original microdrama content on the platform.
Source: The Verge