Inflection AI, Inc. is an American technology company which has developed a machine learning and generative artificial intelligence hardware and apps, founded in 2022.[2][3][4] The company is structured as a public benefit corporation and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.[5][6]
| Company type | Public benefit corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
Key people | Sean White (CEO) |
| Products | Pi |
Number of employees | 35 (2023) |
| Website | inflection |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
History
editThe company was founded by entrepreneurs Reid Hoffman, Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan in 2022.[2][3][4] The company has collaborated with Nvidia to develop hardware for generative artificial intelligence.[7]
In June 2023, the company raised US$1.3 billion at $4 billion valuation.[7]
In March 2024, Suleyman and Simonyan announced their departure from the company in order to start Microsoft AI, with Microsoft acqui-hiring nearly the entirety of its 70-person workforce.[8] As part of the deal, Microsoft paid Inflection $650 million to license its technology. The proceeds were used to reimburse Inflection AI's investors.[9] UK's Competition and Markets Authority launched a preliminary probe into the deal to examine the impact on competition and whether the agreement constituted a merger.[10] The regulator concluded that the deal amounted to a "merger situation," but did not pose a threat to competition due to Inflection's small share in the UK consumer market.[11]
Products
editThe first product released widely by Inflection AI is a chatbot, Pi, named for “personal intelligence,” that is intended to function as an artificial intelligence-based personal assistant.[12] Among the user experience goals that the company has stated for the Pi product are: providing an experience of emotional support for human users, in which the chatbot should be able to maintain an interactive text or voice-based dialogue with a human user that includes elements of kindness, a diplomatic tone about sensitive topics, and humor.[13] Comparisons and contrasts have been made between the Pi chatbot and ChatGPT, a chatbot created by OpenAI.[14]
References
edit- ^ Nishant, Niket; Hu, Krystal (2023-06-29). "Microsoft-backed AI startup Inflection raises $1.3 billion from Nvidia and others". Reuters.
- ^ a b Wiggers, Kyle (2022-05-13). "Inflection AI raises $225M to supercharge computer-human interactions". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
- ^ a b Quach, Katyanna. "LinkedIn billionaire launches Inflection AI startup". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
- ^ a b Shead, Sam (2022-03-08). "Reid Hoffman has co-founded his first new company since LinkedIn sale". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
- ^ Konrad, Alex (2023-06-29). "Inflection AI, The Year-Old Startup Behind Chatbot Pi, Raises $1.3 Billion". Forbes.
- ^ Kahn, Jeremy (2023-05-03). "DeepMind cofounder's new A.I. chatbot is a good listener. And that's about it. Is that enough?". Fortune.
- ^ a b Konrad, Alex. "Inflection AI, The Year-Old Startup Behind Chatbot Pi, Raises $1.3 Billion". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
- ^ "The new Inflection: An important change to how we'll work". Inflection. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
- ^ Griffith, Erin; Metz, Cade (August 8, 2024). "The New A.I. Deal: Buy Everything but the Company". The New York Times.
- ^ Orru, Mauro (July 16, 2024). "Microsoft Faces U.K. Antitrust Probe Over Ties to Inflection AI". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "UK competition watchdog clears Microsoft's hiring of AI startup's core staff". Associated Press. September 4, 2024.
- ^ Konrad, Alex. "Inflection AI, Startup From Ex-DeepMind Leaders, Launches Pi — A Chattier Chatbot". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
- ^ Hu, Krystal (2023-05-02). "Hoffman and Suleyman's AI startup Inflection launches ChatGPT-like chatbot". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
- ^ "LinkedIn co-founder and Google DeepMind co-founder's startup Inflection AI launches 'Pi' chatbot". Business Today. 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2023-06-16.