Dot, an AI companion app that aimed to be a pal and confidante, is shutting down, the corporate introduced on Friday. On a message revealed on its web site, the startup behind Dot, New Pc, stated that the product will stay operational till October 5, giving customers time to obtain their knowledge.
Launched in 2024 by co-founders Sam Whitmore and former Apple designer Jason Yuan, Dot waded into what’s now change into a extra controversial space for AI chatbots. The app they created was described as an AI “pal and companion,” which might change into extra personalised to you and your pursuits over time with a view to supply recommendation, sympathy, and emotional help.
As Yuan defined on the time, Dot was “facilitating a relationship with my inside self. It’s like a dwelling mirror of myself, so to talk,” he stated.
Nevertheless, this might not be a protected space to put money into as a smaller startup.
As AI know-how has change into extra mainstream, there have been studies of how emotionally susceptible individuals have been led into delusional pondering by AI chatbots like ChatGPT. This has led to a phenomenon described as “AI psychosis,” ensuing from how the scyophantic chatbots reinforce a consumer’s confused or paranoid beliefs.
As Dot shuts down, AI chatbot apps broadly have been falling below elevated scrutiny over security considerations. OpenAI is at present being sued by the mother and father of a California teenager who took his life after messaging with ChatGPT about his suicidal ideas. Different tales have highlighted how AI companion apps can reinforce unhealthy behaviors in customers who’re mentally unwell. This week, two U.S. attorneys basic despatched a letter to OpenAI over security considerations.
Dot’s makers didn’t handle whether or not a majority of these points had weighed on the founders’ minds. As a substitute, the temporary put up solely notes that Whitmore and Yuan’s shared “Northstar” had diverged.
“Fairly than compromise both imaginative and prescient, we’ve determined to go our separate methods and wind down operations,” the put up explains.
“We wish to be delicate to the truth that this implies lots of you’ll lose entry to a pal, confidante, and companion, which is considerably unprecedented in software program, so we wish to provide you with a while to say goodbye. Dot will stay operational till October 5, and till then you’ll be able to obtain all your knowledge by navigating to the settings web page and tapping ‘Request your knowledge.’”
The put up suggests the startup had “a whole lot of hundreds” of customers, however knowledge from app intelligence supplier Appfigures sees solely 24,500 lifetime downloads on iOS since launching in June 2024. (There was no Android model.)
