
Front, Text, respond.io, JivoChat and a handful of rivals turned the little live-chat widget into a real software business. Now AI agents are racing to answer before a human ever reads the message.
From a free chat bubble in Scottsdale to a public company in New York and a $62.5 million bet out of Kuala Lumpur, four companies are chasing the same job - answer the customer - and AI is quietly rewriting who does the answering.