Replika founder turns a 12-year-old AI helper idea into Wabi
Wabi（WAH-bee）
A personal AI assistant built for shared conversations and tasks.
thread（thread）
A separate conversation space focused on one goal.
SOC 2（S-O-C two）
A standard for checking a company’s controls for protecting data.
What happened
On October 19, TechCrunch reported that Eugenia Kuyda, the founder of Replika, had opened Wabi to all users. Replika is an AI service built around conversation. Wabi is a personal AI assistant designed like a messenger app. It keeps separate threads for tasks and long-term goals. Inside each thread, users can create small custom apps. Examples include a weight tracker for a health thread and an app that finds children’s events for a family thread. After a user connects email, Wabi can create starter threads and apps automatically. The service is free for now, but its business model is not settled. (TechCrunch report)
Where the idea came from
Twelve years ago, Kuyda presented a chatbot called IO at TechCrunch Disrupt. IO acted like a lifestyle concierge. It helped people find restaurants, vacations, and other services through conversation. That was before today’s large language models became widely available. The product still showed the basic idea: people could ask for help in natural language instead of searching through menus.
IO came from Kuyda’s startup Luka. Luka later became Replika, the AI companion company. Kuyda left her role as Replika’s CEO last year and founded Wabi. Her new product is not simply a return to the old design. It uses newer AI capabilities to make the assistant create tools for the user. Her view is that technology has finally caught up with the personal assistant idea she had years ago.
Why it matters
Wabi’s main change is who builds the small apps. Earlier versions of the concept asked people to make and share their own software. With Wabi 2.0, the assistant can decide which tools to create after learning a user’s goal. That may make personalized software available to people who do not know how to code and do not want to spend time building apps.
Wabi also treats the assistant as a shared space. A private chatbot usually keeps one person’s requests together. Wabi uses separate threads and lets people share them. A couple could manage restaurant ideas, books, or events together. A family could keep a child’s schedule in one place. This moves the assistant from a private helper toward a group coordinator.
The design also responds to a problem with endless chats. As conversations grow, information can become difficult to find. TechCrunch cited researchers who said long chats can increase the chance of lost context or incorrect answers. Separate threads are Wabi’s product answer to that problem, though the report does not prove that the design solves it.
What is confirmed
The report is based on an interview with Kuyda. Wabi’s own website also presents group chats, trip planning, mobile home-screen widgets, and movement between computers and phones. TechCrunch reported that access can be scoped to individual shared chats. Other people in a chat can see when someone requests personal information.
Kuyda said Wabi is SOC 2 compliant. In simple terms, the company says its data-security controls have received an outside audit. She also said Wabi runs in the cloud and stores most user data in the United States. (Wabi official site)
What remains unknown
Wabi is free today, but the price after launch is unknown. The company is also discussing another funding round. The report does not give user numbers, revenue, or independent measurements of how accurately the generated apps work.
Privacy questions remain practical, not abstract. Users may connect email, calendars, or even bank information to shared chats. It is still unclear how long different kinds of data remain stored, how deletion works, and how the service handles a mistaken share. An outside audit claim does not answer every daily question about data use.
What to watch next
The next useful signals will be Wabi’s pricing, user growth, funding, and app reliability. It will also matter whether families and friends find shared threads genuinely useful. Wabi does not prove that every personal assistant will work this way. It does show a clear experiment: an idea imagined before modern AI became powerful is now being tested as a shared service.
A Replika founder built an AI helper for groups
📰 Full story: Replika founder turns a 12-year-old AI helper idea into Wabi
Wabi is an AI helper that people can use together.
Wabi（WAH-bee）
An AI helper that people can use together.
thread（thread）
A separate chat for one purpose.
SOC 2（S-O-C two）
A check of how a company protects data.
💡 The gist
- Replika’s founder started a new company called Wabi.
- Wabi organizes tasks in separate conversation threads.
- Families and friends can use some threads together.
Eugenia Kuyda founded Replika, a conversation-based AI service. She now leads Wabi. An AI assistant is a computer helper that understands words and responds.
Kuyda had this idea before today’s powerful AI systems. Twelve years ago, she showed IO at a technology event. IO helped people find restaurants and travel plans. Her startup Luka later became Replika.
Wabi is her newer version of that idea. It works like a messaging app. Each thread has a purpose. One thread could focus on health. Another could focus on family plans. A thread is a separate conversation space for one goal.
Wabi can build small apps inside these spaces. A health thread might get a weight tracker. A family thread might get a list of children’s events. When users connect email, Wabi can make starter threads and apps by itself.
This changes who makes the tools. People do not need to design every app first. They can explain what they want. Wabi then chooses some tools to build. This could help people who do not know how to code.
Wabi also lets people share threads. A couple could plan a trip together. A family could organize a child’s schedule. People can choose which information each chat can use. Other people in that chat can see when someone asks for personal information.
The company says Wabi has SOC 2 compliance. This means an outside review checked its data-security controls. TechCrunch reported that most user data is stored in the United States.
Wabi is free right now. Its future price is not decided. We also do not know how accurate every small app will be. The next things to watch are pricing, user growth, privacy controls, and funding. (TechCrunch report)
A new computer helper called Wabi
📰 Full story: Replika founder turns a 12-year-old AI helper idea into Wabi
Wabi helps people plan things together.
Wabi（WAH-bee）
A computer helper for people together.
Replika（reh-PLICK-uh）
A service where people talk with an AI.
AI（A-I）
A computer system that can understand words and help.
Eugenia Kuyda made Replika, a talking computer friend.
She made Wabi, a new computer helper.
AI means a computer that can help with words.
People can talk with Wabi together. Families can share one chat room. A room can help plan a trip. Another room can find children’s events.
Wabi can make a small tool for each room. It can also sort tasks after seeing email.
Wabi is free right now. Its future price is not known.
People must choose what information to share. Wabi says it checked its data-safety controls.
We do not know yet how well Wabi works for many people. (TechCrunch report)