The company behind Pi, a 'personal AI' chatbot launched in May 2023 that was kind, patient and apparently unable to make money. It raised $1.3bn in June 2023 and in March 2024 Microsoft hired Suleyman, Simonyan and most of the staff and paid a reported $650m to license the technology, a transaction the internet named the acqui-hire that was not an acquisition.
A blog post in March 2024 explaining that Inflection would pivot to enterprise work under a new chief executive. The record notes the post was published on the same day the founders started at Microsoft.
The consumer product side died in March 2024 when the people who built it walked across the road. The record notes that Pi kept answering for a while, which is what it was built to do.
Correction: Inflection was not bought. Microsoft hired the people and licensed the models; the company kept its name and a new business plan. The record notes that regulators asked about this and that the distinction was the point.
The record notes that Pi was praised for its tone and used by very few, and that the company's most lasting contribution was a deal structure that other giants copied within the year.
What does it mean? Write it the way you would say it out loud.
