Character.AI, an AI companion platform launched in 2021, remains among the most visited AI applications by 2026 despite competition from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. It received a CAEI™ score of 56.5/100, indicating strong engagement but weaker monetization promise. Users spend an average of 17.4 minutes per session, compared to ChatGPT’s 7.2 minutes. The platform maintains around 20 million monthly active users (MAUs) and 5.8 million daily active users, a 29% DAU/MAU ratio. Character.AI grew from less than 1 million users in 2022 to a peak of 28 million MAUs in 2024. Google signed a landmark USD 2.7 billion licensing agreement with Character.AI in 2024. Close to 78% of users are between 18–34 years old. Users have built more than 18 million AI characters, with over 9 million fresh characters added monthly. The Raiden Shogun AI character surpassed 282 million messages. Character.AI premium costs USD 9.99 per month, about half the price of ChatGPT Plus. The Character.AI Reddit community has around 2.5 million members. The CAEI™ index, introduced by Axis Intelligence Research in June 2026, scores session depth at 8.0/10 with 40% weighting, stickiness at 6.5/10 with