Latest news with #AICompanion
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
CODE27 AI Companion Exceeds Crowdfunding Expectations, Ignites Industry Buzz
CODE27 Character Livehouse, first unveiled at CES 2025 this January, successfully concluded its Kickstarter campaign at the end of May, raising over $1.7 million from over 3,200 backers. Described as a Customizable 3D AI Companion Hub, CODE27 drew considerable attention at CES due to its integration of AI companionship, anime girl aesthetics, and otaku culture. It is claimed to be the world's first end-to-end customized AI companion that brings your favorite character to life. CODE27 has redefined success in the AI companion hardware space, achieving one of the most significant crowdfunding milestones in the category's history. This breakthrough significantly outpaces industry benchmarks, where similar projects, such as Ropet and Looi, historically averaged $300,000–$500,000 in funding. 'The funds raised far exceeded our expectations,' said Brandon, a core developer at Sybran Innovation, the company behind CODE27. With over 10 years of experience in global hardware development, Brandon has led core product and R&D efforts at DJI, OPPO, and RayNeo. Besides, the team's expertise also spans Bytedance, EcoFlow, and other major tech innovators. On its Kickstarter page, the CODE27 team shared the inspiration behind the project: We are a passionate group of anime enthusiasts and geeks, eager to share both moments of joy and times of solitude with the characters we love. Believing that we can be truly accompanied by our favorite characters, we've come together to make this dream a reality. Inspired by the seed of Amadeus from Steins;Gate, which has been planted in our hearts for over a decade, we are fully committed to this project. CODE27 allows users to freely customize characters, environments and expressions. Beyond appearances, CODE27 offers an open, highly customizable AI companion platform. Users can connect to any cloud or local AI model, upload custom 3D assets, and even program new behaviors using 'Spellbooks,' giving them deep creative control over how their companion looks, thinks, and interacts. The product launched at $429 for the base unit and $528 for the version that comes with a smart rotating base. AI-powered companion hardware is often referred to as 'desktop pets.' The rise of generative AI has significantly lowered the barrier to human-computer interaction, opening up new possibilities for companionship-based products. As the category grows, it's the products with real innovation and vision that will ultimately succeed. Media Contact Company Name: CODE 27 Contact Person: Amy Ma Email: Send Email Country: China Website:
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
CODE27 AI Companion Exceeds Crowdfunding Expectations, Ignites Industry Buzz
June 23, 2025 - CODE27 Character Livehouse, first unveiled at CES 2025 this January, successfully concluded its Kickstarter campaign at the end of May, raising over $1.7 million from over 3,200 backers. Described as a Customizable 3D AI Companion Hub, CODE27 drew considerable attention at CES due to its integration of AI companionship, anime girl aesthetics, and otaku culture. It is claimed to be the world's first end-to-end customized AI companion that brings your favorite character to life. CODE27 has redefined success in the AI companion hardware space, achieving one of the most significant crowdfunding milestones in the category's history. This breakthrough significantly outpaces industry benchmarks, where similar projects, such as Ropet and Looi, historically averaged $300,000–$500,000 in funding. 'The funds raised far exceeded our expectations,' said Brandon, a core developer at Sybran Innovation, the company behind CODE27. With over 10 years of experience in global hardware development, Brandon has led core product and R&D efforts at DJI, OPPO, and RayNeo. Besides, the team's expertise also spans Bytedance, EcoFlow, and other major tech innovators. On its Kickstarter page, the CODE27 team shared the inspiration behind the project: We are a passionate group of anime enthusiasts and geeks, eager to share both moments of joy and times of solitude with the characters we love. Believing that we can be truly accompanied by our favorite characters, we've come together to make this dream a reality. Inspired by the seed of Amadeus from Steins;Gate, which has been planted in our hearts for over a decade, we are fully committed to this project. CODE27 allows users to freely customize characters, environments and expressions. Beyond appearances, CODE27 offers an open, highly customizable AI companion platform. Users can connect to any cloud or local AI model, upload custom 3D assets, and even program new behaviors using 'Spellbooks,' giving them deep creative control over how their companion looks, thinks, and interacts. The product launched at $429 for the base unit and $528 for the version that comes with a smart rotating base. AI-powered companion hardware is often referred to as 'desktop pets.' The rise of generative AI has significantly lowered the barrier to human-computer interaction, opening up new possibilities for companionship-based products. As the category grows, it's the products with real innovation and vision that will ultimately succeed. Media Contact Company Name: CODE 27 Contact Person: Amy Ma Email: Send Email Country: China Website: Source: LianPR
Newsweek
6 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
AI Management Tools Promise to Drive Employee Satisfaction and Innovation
The impact of AI in the workplace is already profound, but that impact is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, as recent breakthroughs have accelerated the vision for an AI-powered future of work. "AI's been around for a long time, but when ChatGPT hit the scene, it really captured everyone's imagination," Cheryl Johnson, chief product officer at Betterworks, said. Over the last year, we have seen an expansion in agentic and generative AI tools aimed at helping people save hours per day or week at work by automating reports, summarizing meetings, writing first drafts, improving drafts and helping people and teams stay on top of their performance and development goals. Best-in-class innovations in workplace AI are highlighted by Newsweek's AI Impact Award winners in the workplace categories: Zoom, Pfizer and Betterworks. Their new offerings are enabling smoother collaboration, reductions in meetings, improved goal-setting, time-saving for managers and better adoption of emerging technology. Workplace tools were just one industry represented. Across more than a dozen categories, 38 winners were selected by a panel of judges made of AI and subject matter experts. AI Impact Awards: Workplace AI Impact Awards: Workplace Newsweek Illustration "Hybrid and remote work have become super noisy," Smita Hashim, head of product at Zoom, told Newsweek. "How can we help people really automate away some of the more mundane things which they have to do, so they can focus on more strategic work, so they can focus on connecting with each other? That's where we want to take AI Companion." Better Performance Management Many are trying, but the performance management process remains a heavy burden for managers and direct reports, with many struggling to see the value in the process or in their ability to communicate the breadth and value of their accomplishments over the course of a year. At Betterworks, the solution was to address certain pain points in performance management with an AI tool to support goals that give feedback and prompt manager conversations around goals. "AI was used not to replace people but to enhance them—acting as a copilot to guide goal-setting, feedback and performance conversations. The objective was to free employees from administrative overload and focus their energy on growth, development and productivity. The result? More relevant and meaningful feedback to drive employee engagement and better data for HR teams to understand their workforce," a representative wrote in the company's award application. One of the organizations using Betterworks, the software company LivePerson, drove a 30 percent improvement in timely completion of performance reviews, and its employees reported 75 percent less time spent to complete them. Managers and employees also reported improved clarity and tone in performance feedback, in addition to value. "We saw immediate positive response for, especially, employees who were maybe not as great with communication," Johnson shared. "They felt like they could put their notes in, and it would be transformed into something that was more on point." For managers, especially those with 10 or more direct reports, reviewing goals for every employee and writing feedback can be incredibly time-consuming. Having the ability to give feedback to employees as they set their goals can prevent multiple rounds of edits with the manager and ensure better alignment with team and company goals. "The friction point is the blank page," Johnson said. "With Goal [AI] Assist, you click one button, and it's looking at your job title, past goals, company goals, your manager's goals. It's looking at all this information in the system. It's looking at your past feedback, your past feedback from your manager, and recommending professional and development goals." Before rolling out Betterworks, the team at LivePerson, an AI chat company itself, put a stress test on the technology as a means of vetting the new AI offering. "They build AI technology themselves, so they're pretty savvy," Johnson shared. "They had their team come in and essentially try to break our AI. They gave it some challenging scenarios to see what the response would be." After passing the stress test, LivePerson shared those results internally as it deployed the Betterworks tool to help its workforce know that it was thoroughly vetted. "You have employees really being supported to fire on all cylinders and show up as their best because they have clarity on what's expected, how they're performing, what the gaps are, how they might fill those gaps," Johnson said. In the future, Betterworks plans to expand on this offering with a "robust data set" around succession planning and "a manager homepage that kind of leads all the insights from the platform for their team and pulls out the same endpoints and allows them to take immediate and quick action on those points," Johnson said. As middle managers report rising burnout and trouble managing conflict across expectations between workers and executives, finding ways to save them time and manage better can pay large dividends. "We think a lot about the manager, and how to help them shine, really, fundamentally, is at the crux of what we're doing," Johnson said. A Zoom office location. A Zoom office location. Getty Images A Companion for Collaboration (and Fewer Meetings) The company that allowed many organizations to stay in touch and keep having meetings during lockdown has been working hard to make the meeting experience richer over the last few years, launching whiteboarding tools, live transcripts and added privacy and communication features. With the launch of Zoom AI Companion, people can attend fewer meetings while having more impactful communication with colleagues, and the AI tool can also help set tasks and calendar events during or after meetings. "How can you be more effective in your meetings, but how can you also maybe not have meetings if you don't need to have them? AI Companion does an amazing job summarizing meetings and converting it into next steps as well," Hashim said. Zoom also made AI Companion available at no extra cost to its enterprise users, to allow companies the widest possible aperture for experimentation and discovery around the possibilities of AI in different employees' workflow. During meetings, users can ask Companion questions on the side, like if they missed a segment of what was said or want to search the web for information to share in the meeting. Like a lot of the traditional generative AI tools, Companion is also helping employees across the board with first drafts of emails, outlines or memos and can incorporate information from meetings and other company documents to help build those drafts. "We are focused a lot on the process that we call 'from conversation to completion,' so you're having all these conversations. But then, how can you complete the work or how can you get more out of these conversations?" Hashim said. Zoom users in finance, sales, customer service, operations, HR, IT and product management are developing their own use-cases for how they can benefit from this tool. In most cases, it is being used to synthesize large amounts of information that they need to summarize and communicate to other parties. The speed of collecting and summarizing information that may be readily available in company documents and meeting summaries can have a profound impact on productivity and innovation. Hashim notes that some features are aimed at the general productivity of any employee, but all functions have different ways of collaborating that can be supported by AI Companion. Finance managers can collect reports from a variety of sources and ask prompts of the AI to determine their next steps for work rather than having to review all of the documentation. Product teams can collect user data and feedback and summarize it faster to accelerate their iteration cycles. Sales and account management teams can summarize their calls and get actionable feedback for product teams and client service plans. "We have a prompt library, which users can use in order to discover different ways of working with Companion," Hashim said. The company also makes best practices available. Among Zoom clients, 60 percent of its Fortune 500 users have AI Companion enabled. Gainsight, a customer success platform, noted that AI Companion offered the functionality of a premium AI assistant tool within a software it already has and uses, while also enabling privacy and data security in customer communications. Cloud security company Zscaler enabled AI Companion for all employees and reports healthy adoption with minimal training as well as success with customer-facing teams. BairesDev, one of the largest fully remote companies in the world, estimates it has saved employees over 19,000 hours with AI Companion since November 2023. "We will see a lot more people being able to do a lot more effective work and lot more strategic work in ways that are more relaxing and more energizing for them," Hashim said. AI Training Program Pfizer developed a proprietary generative AI platform called Vox, a tool meant to help its pharmaceutical and biotechnical development teams with functionality, like drafting patents, generating code and identifying new business opportunities. The company also made Microsoft's Copilot available to employees. Pfizer representatives told Newsweek that "despite Vox and Copilot's extensive functionalities, Pfizer encountered challenges in conveying the value and driving the adoption of these new technological tools to its workforce." The biopharma giant responded with the creation of a learning program "aimed at helping novice users grasp the concepts of artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence as well as the functionalities of Vox, Copilot and other tools available to all Pfizer employees." The program included introductory AI training, an "AI Academy" for those looking to reach mastery and external educational opportunities. Over 12,000 company employees have begun training with the academy, representing over 15 percent of Pfizer's global workforce, with a 96 percent positive feedback rating from a survey of learners, and 250 employees have begun graduate programs in this domain through partnerships with the Stevens Institute of Technology. Pfizer has also put over 200 high-potential company leaders through leadership development programs that include AI training as part of the curriculum. A Pfizer office location. A Pfizer office location. Getty Images In partnership with a consulting firm, Pfizer built out this program by identifying four key milestones in the AI learning journey: Exploring AI, Understanding AI, Practicing AI and Mastering AI. They then set out to develop a variety of learning opportunities in a wide variety of formats, including workshops, nanodegrees, "prompt-a-thons" and role-based training. They also developed resources for specific roles and departments, such as the AI Academy for Finance and Global Business Services, and later tapped members of an internal AI Champion Network and other employee volunteers to create role-specific resources and training for the most popular AI Academy workshops. Pfizer also put a special emphasis on launch and rollout with its Digital division, a group primarily consisting of tech workers. Today 46 percent of Pfizer Digital employees are active in AI Academy. For less technically inclined employees, Pfizer addressed skepticism around AI with its training, created badge credentials to mark progress and developed placement exams for determining which training pathways to pursue, in addition to the role-based guidance and resources. Pfizer also launched an in-person, three-day event called AI Academy Live for a more interactive experience that featured influential company speakers, including Yolanda Lyle, SVP and chief of staff to CEO Albert Bourla, and Mack MacKenzie, VP of Digital Client Partner, Business Innovation and PHI, "who discussed maximizing colleague potential through AI and ensuring a human-centered approach to AI transformation," Pfizer representatives said. Pfizer's AI Strategy Framework Tier 1 AI Adoption was credited with $163 million in ROI, thanks to the support of AI Academy efforts, with the company finding that participants were 68 percent more likely to use Copilot than non-learners and also completed twice as many actions using the tool. "Session has provided [me the] confidence to play around with GenAI tools and begin embracing these tools in my day to day," one of the participants wrote in their feedback. "Thank you for creating a fun, interactive Unlocking GenAI Potential training session! I can't wait to put this training to use and see the limitless potential of using AI in real-world applications." To see the full list of AI Impact winners, visit the official page for Newsweek's AI Impact Awards. Newsweek will continue the conversation on meaningful AI innovations at our AI Impact Summit from June 23 to 25 in Sonoma, California. Click here to follow along on the live blog.
Time Business News
12-06-2025
- Health
- Time Business News
AI Companion Apps: Connecting Minds and Technology
The Global AI Companion App market is riding a wave of rapid expansion and innovation. Driven by breakthroughs in natural language processing (NLP), increased smartphone penetration, and rising demand for mental wellness solutions. According to a recent research study, the market is set to grow significantly in the coming years and is currently valued at approximately USD 19.2 billion, and is further projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.3%. What is a AI Companion Apps? AI Companion are software applications powered by artificial intelligence that provides users with interactive, conversational support, companionship, and task assistance. These apps simulate human-like conversations, offering emotional support, reminders, entertainment, or even learning assistance. Furthermore, AI companion apps are increasingly used for personal well-being, mental health, and productivity, with some offering features like mood tracking, personalized advice, and habit-building support. As AI evolves, these apps are becoming more sophisticated, capable of adapting to users' preferences and emotions. These apps function as virtual companions or assistants that engage users in meaningful conversations, help manage daily tasks, provide mental health support, or offer companionship. In addition to general conversation, AI companion apps are increasingly being used in education, therapy, and lifestyle coaching, offering 24/7 interaction and personalized insights. Market Trends Driving Growth The global mental health crisis has driven demand for accessible companions. For instance, WHO estimates that nearly 970 million people worldwide suffer from anxiety or depression. Furthermore, increasing incidence of loneliness and mental health awareness, particularly in urban societies and among younger demographics is also driving the growth. According to a recent study in the United States, loneliness is a public health crisis affecting approximately 50% of adults. AI companion apps like Replika and Pi provide non-judgmental spaces for users to communicate, which significantly drives adoption. With approximately more than 7.1 billion smartphone users globally, AI companion apps are always within reach. App upgrades such Visual AI and NLP have made these tools empathetic, responsive, and more personalized. Additionally, advancements in conversational AI, natural language processing (NLP), and emotional AI have made these apps more intuitive, enhancing user engagement. The popularity of virtual companions is also accelerated by the growing familiarity with AI-powered chatbots through tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard, making consumers more receptive to AI-based social interactions. Moreover, beyond emotional support, AI companions now assist in task management, education, entertainment, and productivity. For instance, certain AI companion apps synthesizes meeting notes and follow-ups. As a result, growing consumer demand for personalized digital experiences & emotional support solutions, and smartphone penetration & AI advancements are the major factors fueling market growth and widespread adoption. Key Strategic Moves Headspace Launched Empathetic AI Companion In April 2025, Headspace, a prominent mental health platform, expanded its digital offerings with the launch of Ebb, an empathetic AI companion integrated directly into its app. This innovative feature provides instant, personalized emotional support, helping users navigate life's challenges through guided self-reflection and emotional processing. By introducing Ebb, Headspace is tapping into the growing demand for accessible, AI-driven mental health solutions, enabling continuous, on-demand support beyond traditional therapy sessions. This development is projected to broaden user engagement, set new benchmarks in digital mental health services, and further position Headspace as a leader in the evolving landscape of AI-powered mental wellness platforms. Panorama Education Acquired Class Companion In April 2025, Panorama Education, a prominent player in the education technology sector, acquired Class Companion, an AI-driven tool designed to enhance educator efficiency by offering instant feedback and tutoring for students. This strategic move significantly broadens Panorama's portfolio of AI-powered solutions, reinforcing its commitment to delivering advanced, scalable tools that support teachers and improve student outcomes. The integration of Class Companion is expected to accelerate the adoption of AI in classrooms, providing educators with real-time support to personalize learning and streamline instructional processes. This acquisition positions Panorama Education at the forefront of the growing AI-driven EdTech market, addressing the increasing demand for efficient, technology-enhanced teaching tools. Zoom launched Zoom AI Companion 2.0 In October 2024, Zoom introduced Zoom AI Companion 2.0, the next-generation version of its AI assistant, designed to significantly enhance productivity across the Zoom Workplace. This advanced AI solution can intelligently surface key information, prioritize critical tasks, and seamlessly convert interactions into actionable items, helping users streamline their workday. Notably, Zoom is offering these capabilities at no additional cost, which is expected to drive faster adoption across enterprises. Built on Zoom's federated AI architecture, AI Companion 2.0 delivers consistent, high-quality results across the platform, strengthening Zoom's competitive edge in the rapidly expanding AI-powered collaboration tools market and further solidifying its position as a leader in enterprise productivity solutions. The Path Ahead The Global AI Companion App Market is at the nexus of technology, mental wellness, and human connectivity. As consumer expectations evolve driven by empathy, personalization, and privacy AI companion platforms that responsibly innovate will lead this revolution. Moreover, As AI companions evolve from simple chatbots to complex, emotionally responsive partners, they are expected to play a larger role in mental wellness, daily productivity, education, and smart device ecosystems. About Author: HTF Market Intelligence Consulting is uniquely positioned to empower and inspire with research and consulting services to empower businesses with growth strategies, by offering services with extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events, and experience that assist in decision-making. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
The Independent
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
AI girlfriend ‘can get jealousy and flirt with other people'
A new AI companion named Meo drew attention at London Tech Week (10 June) for offering users a customizable ' girlfriend ' experience. Created by startup Meta Loop, Meo is designed to combat loneliness through emotional interaction and adjustable traits — including loyalty, flirtation, and even jealousy. 'With AI, you can control loyalty. They don't cheat,' said Meta Loop's Jiang Jiang. 'Sometimes… they flirt, but only if you want them to.' Some raised ethical concerns. 'A stereotypical man's fantasy,' said visitor Sam Romero. 'Are we making women obsolete now?'
