The company is repurposing its main product, the "kind and supportive companion" chatbot Pi, for corporate customers, believing that businesses will want AI chatbots that deliver a more personal customer support experience. Inflection is also betting on businesses wanting bots to assist employees or to license the tech that makes its chatbots empathetic. Despite recent challenges, cofounder Reid Hoffman insists that the company is well-funded, with backing from its first investor Greylock, and from a successful funding round last year that raised over $1 billion.
Key takeaways:
- Inflection AI is shifting its focus towards business-centric "empathetic" chatbots, aiming to stand out in the competitive AI market.
- Vibhu Mittal, a former senior Google scientist, has been appointed as the chief technology officer, and Ted Shelton from Bain as the chief operating officer.
- Inflection AI believes that companies will want AI chatbots that are emotionally intelligent to deliver a more personal customer support experience.
- Last year, Inflection raised more than $1 billion from investors, including Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, and Nvidia, and received $650 million from Microsoft to license its technology.