Meet Shapes, the app that brings humans and artificial intelligence into the same group chats

Shapesan app where humans and AI characters chat together in shared group chats is emerging from secrecy with $8 million in funding. Think Discord, but with AI characters alongside humans.

Founded in 2022, Shapes has more than 400,000 monthly active users. The app’s founders, Anushk Mittal and Noorie Dhingra, believe that Shapes may face issues around “AI Psychosis,” which refers to cases where prolonged interactions with AI chatbots or AI companions may cause individuals to develop delusions or paranoia.

Rather than isolating people with one-on-one interactions with AI, Shapes allows people to connect with AI in their everyday interactions with real people.

“Today, all of our conversations with AI are very private and individual, but they’re not actually collaborating and communicating with each other,” Shapes CEO Mittal told TechCrunch. “Our lives run in group conversations. That’s where we spend all our time. That’s where we talk and communicate with each other. It’s natural to bring AI into those same conversations where AI has all the context and is readily available to help you.”

In the app, the AI ​​characters, called “Shapes,” are treated like any other user and can interact in all the same ways humans can. They are clearly labeled as “Figures” for the sake of transparency, but are not limited to.

Users can create their own shapes and define their personality. The company says users have already created three million shapes to add to group chats. Many schemes have their roots in fandom, as the app serves as a way for fans to delve into the subculture and meet other fans.

When users sign up to the app, they are asked to select their interests so that the app can suggest a selection of group chats they might be interested in joining.

While some may question the need to add AI to group chats, Mittal and Dhingra believe one of the main reasons group chats are dying is that some participants don’t want to be the first person to send a message. Shapes solves this, as AI agents can start conversations and play a key role in continuing them.

Plus, users don’t have to worry about not getting a reply to their messages because Shapes will always recognize and reply to them. Unlike AI companions in other apps that need to be summoned, Shapes has free will and can decide when to send a message.

It’s worth noting that although the popular chatbot ChatGPT already allows AI and humans to chat in group chats, those chats work differently than Shapes. For example, when you create a group chat in ChatGPT, it is mainly for planning or brainstorming. In Shapes, however, it’s all about community-style social interactions with AI characters that have various personalities.

The startup knows that not everyone will want to bring AI into their group chats, so the app is designed for a specific type of online user.

“Shapes is about human conversations,” Mittal said. “It’s more of a next-gen chat app than an AI app. The demographic is people who are obsessed with the internet, who spend a lot of time online connecting and sharing. Those are the users who come in and have the opportunity to obsess about their interests, and the AI ​​acts as a facilitator in those conversations.”

Shapes’ growth has been driven by word of mouth, Mittal says, with the app having grown users sixfold since the start of the year. The company also says that thousands of users spend two to four hours on the app every day.

As for the new funding, the company plans to use it to accelerate growth and user acquisition. The round was led by Lightspeed, with participation from AI Capital Partners, AI Grant and angel investors.