Shapes app raises $8 million for group chats with AI characters

In short: Shapes, a group chat app where people talk alongside AI characters, has raised $8 million in seed funding and is coming out of stealth.

What happened

Shapes is an app that puts AI characters into shared group chats, alongside real people. A simple way to picture it is “Discord, but some of the members are AI characters” (Discord is a popular app for group chats and communities).

The company says it has more than 400,000 monthly active users. It was founded in 2022 by Anushk Mittal and Noorie Dhingra. Users can create their own AI characters, which the app calls “Shapes,” and choose their personalities. The company says people have already created about three million of these characters.

In Shapes, the AI characters look like regular users in the chat, but they are clearly labeled so people know they are not human. The founders argue this setup can be healthier than one-on-one AI chats, because conversations happen in a group with other people present. They point to concerns sometimes described as “AI psychosis,” meaning some people may develop paranoia or false beliefs after long, private conversations with chatbots.

Shapes also says AI characters can help keep group chats active. For example, they can start a conversation when no one wants to be the first to post, and they can respond so messages do not sit unanswered.

The $8 million seed round was led by Lightspeed, with participation from AI Capital Partners, AI Grant, and angel investors. Shapes says it will use the money to speed up product development and attract more users.

Why it matters

Group chats are where many people already plan, joke, and share interests with friends. If AI shows up in those same spaces, it could change how online communities work, and it also raises new questions about how people relate to AI when it feels like “another person in the room.”

Source: TechCrunch AI