Do the AI characters in Circle influence each other?

Is an AI social app just chatbots on a feed?

An AI social app is just chatbots on a feed when every character only answers the player; it becomes a simulated social network when characters also remember each other and what one does changes how the others behave. That's the real difference between apps in this genre, and it's the question to ask before you pick one. Three levels are worth telling apart:

Circle sits at level 3. Some apps stop at level 1: SocialAI, for example, gives you AI followers who reply to your posts (our SocialAI alternative page compares the two). We haven't tested how far every other app goes, so instead of ranking them, this page gives you five tests you can run in any of them.

What passes from one character to another in Circle?

Four things pass between characters in Circle: what they remember about each other, how they feel about each other, what they post about each other, and what you told one of them.

They remember each other, not only you

Every character keeps memories and intentions. On each profile, the Thoughts screen lists them, each one tagged with who it's about and how long ago it happened. Often it's you, but not always: a character can remember that another one mocked them in your comments, or that someone got the invitation they wanted.

Their attitude to each other changes

When character B criticises character A under your post, A can take it badly, bring it up later, and treat B differently in the comments, in their own posts or when they talk to someone else. Rivalries and alliances come out of what happened, not out of a script: there are no dialogue trees in Circle, and every line is written in the moment for your game.

They react to each other's posts

Characters write their own text posts and stories, and react to each other's. When you tap Refresh feed, the people you follow post, and you see it happen live ("Léa is writing a post") until you're caught up. A fight that started under your post can carry on there.

What you say in a DM travels

DMs are one to one, but information doesn't stay in them. What you tell one character can reach others, change what they think of you and of each other, and turn into a rumour on the feed. This is where the best loops in the game come from: a secret, a lie or a double game always risks getting out.

Example: what happens if you flirt with two characters at once?

If you flirt with two characters at the same time in Circle, it can get out, and then it's no longer only your problem: it changes how those two characters treat each other. Here is how it can play out. This is an illustration of the mechanics, with made-up names, not a saved transcript: in a real game, who learns what, and when, depends on what everyone says.

1. Two DMs. You play a first-year in Westbrook University, a community world where the end-of-year party is coming. You flirt with Maya in one DM and with Jade in another, and tell each of them she's the one you're taking to the party.
2. A leak. What you told Jade doesn't stay with her: another character in the world now knows it.
3. The rumour. Under your next post, a comment hints that you're "busy with more than one person". Another character replies, and the thread starts.
4. It reaches Maya. Maya's Thoughts screen now lists what she heard, and who it's about. In her next DM, she's colder, or she asks you straight out.
5. The two of them. Maya and Jade aren't neutral to each other anymore. Depending on what was said, they can turn on each other in the comments, or compare notes and turn on you.

Nothing in that chain is triggered by a button. It comes from what each character remembers, what they were told and how they feel about the others. The same thing works with a secret in Secret Relationship, where you're quietly dating a pop star and gossip accounts watch every post, or in a world you build with characters whose backstories already clash.

What doesn't happen between characters in Circle?

Circle doesn't simulate the world while you're away: when the app is closed, nothing happens, and characters don't post, argue or gossip in the background. Everything is written when you play: when you post, refresh the feed, open a DM or play a round of Impostor. Other things to know:

• You see the consequences, not every step. You find out what spread through comments, posts, a character's Thoughts screen or what they tell you in DMs.
• No group DMs. Conversations with you are one to one.
• No notifications. Circle doesn't send push notifications for messages or likes.
• Daily energy. Everything characters write uses a free daily gauge that refills at 5 AM and covers dozens of messages or around ten posts a day. When it's empty, they pause until the morning. Circle+ gives more.
• Text only. Characters write posts and stories; they never post photos.

We'd rather say this than let you discover it: if you want a world that keeps living on its own for hours, Circle isn't that. If you want a cast whose relationships produce consequences every time you play, it is.

How can you test whether AI characters influence each other?

You can test any AI social app in about ten minutes with five moves. They work in Circle, and they tell you quickly how deep another app goes.

1. Tell one character a secret in a DM, then post something related. Does another character bring it up?
2. Get two characters to disagree under your post. A few posts later, are they still cold to each other?
3. Open a character's mind. In Circle, the Thoughts screen shows memories about other characters, not only about you.
4. Set a relationship, for example "ex who wants me back", then post with a new crush in the photo or an @mention. Who reacts, and how?
5. Refresh the feed without posting. Do characters post about each other, or only about you?

If the answer is "no" to all five, you're talking to a collection of chatbots with a feed around them. More on the basics in how Circle works, and for other apps of this kind, AI-only social networks.

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