Google Vet Raises $8m For Continua To Bring Ai Agents To Group Chats

In early 2023, David Petrou, a distinguished technologist and a founding personnel of both Google Goggles and Google Glass, made a astonishing move. After much than 17 years astatine nan company, he departed to motorboat his ain startup.

“I was seeing really accelerated exertion was changing, and I felt location are definite ideas that are champion explored successful nan discourse of a startup,” Petrou told TechCrunch.

His eventual thought was to build Continua, a consumer-facing institution that uses AI agents to heighten collaboration and relationship successful group chats connected SMS, iMessage, and Discord.

“The elemental measurement to deliberation astir it is that we’re bringing nan powerfulness of LLMs to group chats,” Petrou said.

Continua announced connected Tuesday that it has raised an $8 cardinal seed round. The backing was led by GV, pinch further information from Bessemer Ventures Partners and a group of angel investors.

When processing Continua, Petrou noticed that group would interact pinch ChatGPT aliases different LLM, and past would transcript and paste what they learned into their group conversation.

“If you and I are readying a trip, aliases if we’re trying to fig retired what to person for dinner, aliases what movie to watch, each of these things tin beryllium facilitated by an LLM participating successful a group chat pinch us,” Petrou said.

Continua claims its AI agents tin trim group chat chaos by joining conversations and offering adjuvant accusation only erstwhile it’s needed.

As nan group discusses projects and communal plans, Continua tin automatically group reminders, motorboat polls, adhd almanac invitations, aliases make Google documents pinch checklists and to-do lists.

If a personification forgets specifications from nan group chat, specified arsenic nan gathering clip aliases location, they tin simply nonstop connection Continua to privately inquire for nan information.

At first glance, Continua whitethorn look for illustration a straightforward exertion of AI, but Petrou says that getting LLM to participate successful a speech pinch aggregate humans is simply a alternatively analyzable method problem. Since astir AI models are designed for conversations betwixt a azygous personification and a azygous assistant, Continua had to fine-tune its exertion to understand nan dynamics of group chat discussions.

For instance, group members do not request Continua to respond to everything they write.

“You want nan supplier to person societal intelligence,” Petrou said. He added that they had to “break nan LLM’s brain” to people merge nan AI into conversations.

Users tin invoke Continua erstwhile they request its thief aliases show nan supplier to “hang back” if it’s chiming successful excessively often.

Users tin get started pinch Continua by adding its telephone number to a group SMS aliases its username to a Discord chat.

While respective companies, including Meta and nan startup Hey Umai, connection AI agents for conversations, Petrou insists that Continua is astir suitable for group interactions.

Erik Nordlander, a wide partner astatine GV, said his patient invested successful Petrou moreover earlier nan conception of Continua’s group chat AI had afloat taken shape. “David is simply a really superb engineer, personification who’s been moving pinch AI since earlier it was nan basking thing.”

According to Nordlander, Continua has respective imaginable paths to profitability. The supplier is already assisting pinch arena readying and travel booking, which he suggested they could complaint for successful nan future.