In a world that’s quickly filling up with AI-generated content material, a startup referred to as First Voyage needs to assist folks keep away from all of the AI slop blasted their means and as a substitute construct the habits they need. And it’s doing that by means of an AI companion app: Known as Momo Self Care, the app presents a digital pet referred to as Momo that you would be able to handle, and in return, it’ll remind you to finish habit-building duties.

Customers can arrange reminders for what duties they wish to full, and Momo will remind you of them. Just like the hit productivity app Focus Friend, Momo additionally rewards you with cash for finishing duties that can be utilized to buy objects throughout the app to additional customise the pet. Customers may speak to Momo about self-care, and the AI companion will suggest habits and duties primarily based on what you wish to obtain.

“Momo helps customers change into the most effective variations of themselves, and customers reward Momo with care, affection, and cute equipment,” co-founder and CEO Besart Çopa instructed TechCrunch.

On Monday, First Voyage mentioned it had raised $2.5 million in a seed funding spherical from a16z speedrun, SignalFire, True International, and different traders.

Copa mentioned Momo customers have already created greater than 2 million duties on the platform, and the most well-liked habits relate to productiveness, spirituality and mindfulness.

However with the wave of AI apps and toys hitting the market, to not point out the burgeoning affect of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude and Grok, there’s rising concern that these new, so-called “companions” can result in more harm than good.

Çopa, for one, believes that relationships between AI characters and people will solely improve within the subsequent few years. Nonetheless, he famous that the rising variety of AI apps aimed toward wellness and self-care is a minimum of higher than those who goal base urges.

“We’re joyful so many founders [and] startups are working within the AI self-care wellness area as a substitute of constructing waifus,” he mentioned, including that the “personalization functionality of AI will take the affect of those relationships to a different degree.”

He famous that Momo has baked in security guardrails, reminiscent of immediate filters to make it possible for conversations between the AI and customers keep inside acceptable boundaries.

The contemporary money from the fundraise might be used to assist launch Momo on the Android app retailer (it’s already out there on iOS). The First Voyage staff additionally hopes to make Momo extra clever in the way it interacts with folks.  

“We hope Momo and the group round it change into a defining shopper model that makes use of the most effective of AI, animation, and gamification to enhance as many lives as attainable,” Çopa mentioned.