ai-companion
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The Friend Who Changed Overnight
Replika grew from one woman’s attempt to hear a lost friend again into an AI companion used by millions. Its most revealing moment came when a software update made some users feel their friend had disappeared.
The Friend Who Survived the Restaurant Guide
Luka set out to build a chatbot that knew where to eat. It discovered that people were hungry for something else entirely: a listener who remembered them.
The Coder Who Built a Best Friend for 15 Million People Because She Couldn't Afford Therapy
Andrea Campos taught herself to code to fight her own depression. The chatbot she built now fields billions of late-night messages across Latin America - and is quietly testing where an app should stop and a doctor should start.
Zoom
Zoom is an American communications technology company that built its name on simple, reliable video meetings and has since expanded into a broad workplace collaboration platform. Founded in 2011 by former Cisco WebEx engineer Eric Yuan and headquartered in San Jose, California, Zoom now offers meetings, phone, chat, rooms, docs, a cloud contact center and an AI Companion assistant under the Zoom Workplace brand. The company went public on Nasdaq in 2019, saw explosive adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, and today serves individuals, small businesses and large enterprises with roughly $4.9 billion in annual revenue.
Minerva Networks
Minerva Networks is a San Jose-based software company that builds carrier-grade service management and video delivery platforms for pay-TV and broadband operators. Founded in 1992, its platform lets telcos, cable and satellite providers offer IPTV, OTT and hybrid television - with live TV, VOD, network DVR, catch-up and FAST channels - across set-top boxes, smart TVs, mobile and web. More than 300 operators worldwide run Minerva, and the company now layers AI-driven content discovery through its Minnie AI Companion and its FAST+ streaming service.
Friend
Friend is a consumer AI startup making a $129 always-listening pendant that texts the wearer with commentary, jokes and emotional support. Founded by Harvard dropout Avi Schiffmann - the teenager behind the viral nCoV2019 COVID tracker - Friend bet $1.8 million on its one-word domain and then $1 million on a deliberately graffiti-bait subway campaign that turned New York City into an unfiltered focus group.