"Scherer isn't building another Replika. Product details remain deliberately vague, but he frames Eigen's thesis against the hyper-personalization logic that defines modern tech. 'Everyone is racing to build your AI best friend,' he told Fortune. 'What we're doing is asking: what would this world look like if it was perfect for all of us, not just each of us individually?'"
"Benchmark partner Sarah Tavel had spent years hunting for the right company in the AI social space. 'I'd long felt that one of the most important consumer opportunities in the AI era was going to be something that felt like a friend,' she told Fortune. 'Companies like Replika and Character.ai were the first to show the potential here, and although I met with several founders going after this opportunity, most felt like they created more loneliness, not less. Then I met Paul.'"
Over 600 million people watched the moon landing in 1969, while only 27 million watched NASA's Artemis program return astronauts to the moon. Paul Scherer, founder of AI startup Eigen, believes AI will worsen the decline of shared cultural experiences. Eigen has raised $15 million from Benchmark Capital and notable angel investors. Scherer aims to create a product that fosters collective experiences rather than hyper-personalized interactions, challenging the trend of AI best friends and focusing on a more inclusive vision for technology.
Read at Fortune
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