Inflection AI, an AI startup founded by LinkedIn and DeepMind co-founders, launches ChatGPT-like chatbot

Move over, ChatGPT! Inflection AI, the artificial intelligence startup founded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, today released its first AI chatbot product called Pi similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Inflection said that Pi uses generative AI technology to interact with users via dialogues, enabling them to ask questions and offer feedback, the company said Tuesday.

The announcement comes just two months after Hoffman stepped down from the OpenAI Board of Directors to avoid a conflict of interest.

According to Inflection AI’s CEO Mustafa Suleyman, the startup built the Pi chatbot in-house with the goal of creating a highly emotionally intelligent conversational agent that closely mimics human-like interactions, with an emphasis on being supportive and kind.

“It’s very balanced and even-handed on political issues or sensitive topics, but also sometimes it can be funny and silly and creative,” Suleyman said.

Suleyman explained that while the Pi chatbot is suitable for personal daily tasks, it’s not designed to generate code or essays. Additionally, he stated that the company had conducted boundary training to ensure that the AI adhered to its behavioral policies, such as avoiding engaging in romantic conversations.

“The goal is to make sure that the AI always knows it’s an AI and never tries to imitate a human. So it reminds the human user that it is an AI frequently,” he said.

While the chatbot is not currently connected to the internet, Suleyman said that the Pi chatbot is currently available on various platforms such as its website, app, and social media platforms like Instagram. The service is currently free, and there may be premium subscriptions in the future, according to Suleyman. Pi’s AI system is trained using user data, including conversational content, as stated in its terms of service.

Hoffman co-founded Inflection AI with DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and former DeepMind researcher Karén Simonyan in 2022. Inflection AI is one of the highest-profile startups working on generative AI technology similar to OpenAI. We wrote about Inflection AI a year ago.

Inflection AI is also the first company Suleyman has co-founded since he sold DeepMind to Google in 2014 for around $600 million. In a statement, Suleyman said, “Reid and I are excited to announce that we are co-founding a new company, Inflection AI.” He added, “Inflection will be an AI-first consumer products company, incubated at Greylock, with all the advantages and expertise that come from being part of one of the most storied venture capital firms in the world.”

Hoffman founded LinkedIn in December 2002 with the founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com. In 2016, Reid Hoffman sold his company to Microsoft for $26.2 billion. Since then, he has been busy investing in other tech startups including Worldcoin, a crypto tech startup co-founded by tech millionaire Sam Altman.