AI 助理 Ollie 因難以跟上競爭將於 11 月 6 日停止營運
Ollie, a privacy-focused AI assistant, is shutting down
注重私隱的 AI 助理 Ollie 宣佈將於 11 月 6 日停止營運。該服務提供訂閲制，連接用戶的電郵和日曆，並支援預約、膳食規劃及繳付帳單；用戶將於近日收到匯出資料及退款指示。公司表示，難以在 Muse、Instinct 等競爭者進入市場後突圍、擴大規模並籌集所需資金。
Ollie, a startup whose mission was to deliver an AI assistant that respected its users’ privacy, says that it will be shutting down in a week. Bill Lennon, the company’s co-founder and CEO, took to X on Friday to deliver the news, noting that the app will officially shut down on November 6.
“I’m really proud of what we accomplished,” Lennon said. “We built an incredible personal assistant with a small team, and learned a ton. I’m grateful to our amazing team, our users, our investors, and everyone who supported us on this journey.”
The text-based AI assistant market has exploded over the past year, as the increasingly powerful models that undergird such applications have made them significantly more useful for daily tasks.
Ollie, which discussed its $7.5 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures with TechCrunch in September, offered a subscription-based model. The assistant was focused on helping families stay connected and organized. The app connected to a user’s email and calendar, while also providing integrated functions to help with appointment bookings, meal planning, and bill payments. The company had also planned to eventually move into household budgeting.
Crucially, Ollie was one of the first mainstream apps that managed to achieve SOC 2, a privacy compliance standard that companies can attain via an independent audit. Unfortunately, user privacy has never been a hugely profitable aspect of the tech industry. If anything, many new digital assistants present unique privacy challenges for their users — as companies like Instinct have shown.
Ultimately, the pressures of the burgeoning AI industry took a toll on the company, Lennon said. “We got close, but ultimately couldn’t keep up,” he added. “With Muse, Instinct, and others entering the space, it became harder to stand out, grow, and raise the capital we needed to succeed.”
Ollie’s customers will receive instructions on how to export data and receive refunds in the coming days, Lennon added.
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Lucas is a senior writer at TechCrunch, where he covers artificial intelligence, consumer tech, and startups. He previously covered AI and cybersecurity at Gizmodo. You can contact Lucas by emailing [email protected].
來源：TechCrunch · AI · techcrunch.com