If you own a modern smartphone with Android or iOS installed, you have most likely come across a virtual assistant like Siri or Google Assistant. These can assist in a wide range of tasks, such as searching the web, replying to an email, controlling any linked home automation devices, and more.
But, thanks to the advent of GenAI, virtual assistants have gone to the next level, featuring deeper integration with smartphones, and support for advanced AI-powered capabilities.
Many startups have entered the same space in an attempt to offer something different, something that can be of use to the masses. Many have succeeded in doing so, and some, not quite.
However, there's a new outfit in town called PIN AI, which is looking to “democratize on-device intelligence and empower users with complete control and ownership over their personal AI”. The PIN acronym is short for Personal Intelligence Network, and they are pitching their offering directly against the recently introduced Apple Intelligence.
PIN AI Rises To The Challenge
Fresh off a hefty $10 million in pre-seed funding, with prominent investors like Hack VC, A16z Crypto CSX, Nomad Capital, and a few others. PIN AI is aiming to offer a Web3-enabled, open-source AI platform that is meant to turn smartphones into “privacy-focused AI personal assistants”.
The main selling point of PIN AI is that the personal assistant based on it would be running locally on a user's device, taking in all kinds of context data from the various applications and services on the device.
Thereafter, they would process the data in a secure environment to provide assistive features such as ordering food, aiding with financial decisions, planning a trip, and more such actions that a person might need help with.
During a recent announcement, Davide Crapis, co-founder of PIN AI, stated that:
We're building a movement towards an open-source future where personal AI assistants can work on PIN AI’s platform just like how smart contracts work on Ethereum.
PIN AI will protect user freedom from big internet giants, take back the $100b+ profit made from control of user’s data and attention, and return it to the users themselves.
As for how the funding will be used, PIN AI intends to spend it on expanding their team of AI and blockchain experts, investing resources into research & development, and working on getting their tech ready for mainstream use.
There are many other aspects of the open-source tech that are worth learning about; you can read about those in PIN AI's very first explainer blog.
Want To Check It Out?
Currently, there is nothing much to see apart from the official website and the announcement blog, the latter of which showcases an early-stage demo of PIN AI in action.
Besides that, you will have to wait and keep up with the progress of this project to see how it turns out.
💬 Do you like the idea of this project? See it being useful in your daily life? Let me know below!
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