Dot, an AI companion app that aimed to be a good friend and confidante, is shutting down, the corporate introduced on Friday. On a message revealed on its web site, the startup behind Dot, New Laptop, stated that the product will stay operational till October 5, giving customers time to obtain their information.
Launched in 2024 by co-founders Sam Whitmore and former Apple designer Jason Yuan, Dot waded into what’s now develop into a extra controversial space for AI chatbots. The app they created was described as an AI “good friend and companion,” which might develop into extra customized to you and your pursuits over time as a way to supply recommendation, sympathy, and emotional assist.
As Yuan defined on the time, Dot was “facilitating a relationship with my interior self. It’s like a residing mirror of myself, so to talk,” he stated.
Nevertheless, this is probably not a protected space to spend money on as a smaller startup.
As AI know-how has develop into extra mainstream, there have been reviews of how emotionally susceptible individuals have been led into delusional considering by AI chatbots like ChatGPT. This has led to a phenomenon described as “AI psychosis,” ensuing from how the scyophantic chatbots reinforce a person’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 the moment being sued by the dad and mom 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 lot of these points had weighed on the founders’ minds. As a substitute, the transient submit solely notes that Whitmore and Yuan’s shared “Northstar” had diverged.
“Quite than compromise both imaginative and prescient, we’ve determined to go our separate methods and wind down operations,” the submit explains.
“We wish to be delicate to the truth that this implies a lot of you’ll lose entry to a good friend, 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 information by navigating to the settings web page and tapping ‘Request your information.’”
The submit suggests the startup had “lots of of 1000’s” of customers, however information from app intelligence supplier Appfigures sees solely 24,500 lifetime downloads on iOS since launching in June 2024. (There was no Android model.)
