Twelve years ago, Eugenia Kuyda introduced a conversational chatbot called IO at TechCrunch Disrupt, designed to assist users with tasks like booking restaurants and vacations. This early version from her startup Luka came well before modern deep learning advances and laid the groundwork for what later became Replika, a widely recognized AI chatbot companion company. After stepping down as Replika’s CEO last year, Kuyda launched a new venture, Wabi, which capitalizes on the maturing AI technology to offer a fresh take on personal AI assistants.

Wabi, publicly launched this week, operates as a multiplayer personal AI assistant embedded within a messaging app that supports multiple themed threads for different tasks and long-term goals. Unlike its initial 2025 version, which focused on social app creation and sharing, Wabi 2.0 automates app generation by analyzing users’ connected data like emails and calendars. This approach parallels features found in competitors such as Muse and Instinct but adds customizability and multitasking capabilities through its unique multithreaded design.

A key innovation in Wabi is its "multiplayer" aspect, allowing AI threads to be shared among groups, enabling collaborative management of schedules, event tracking, and shared interests. Kuyda highlighted features from her personal shared threads, which include relationship check-ins, family scheduling, and personalized learning apps for her daughter. The platform emphasizes privacy with SOC 2 compliance and scoped data sharing within chats so users control what personal information is accessible to others.

Though Wabi is currently free and exploring business models, Kuyda’s vision extends beyond loneliness reduction, aiming to bring people closer by enhancing real-life interactions and shared experiences through AI assistance. As personal AI assistants multiply in the market, Wabi differentiates itself by combining proactive app building, contextual data management, and collaborative features to help users and their social circles better organize and engage in life.