Insight
The Personal AI.
Inflection is an AI studio on a mission to bring kindness, understanding and empathy to everyone. The first launch is Pi, the world’s first personal AI.
Pi is your coach, confidante, friend, creative brainstormer or sounding board. It helps you talk about your goals, your worries, or what your dreams mean; to learn about history or write a story about the future.
Idea
Hey Pi.
Inflection and AKQA introduced Pi to the world with a genuine welcome; not leading people into how to talk to Pi, but rather inviting them to get to know it however best fits their needs. To showcase the breadth of Pi’s knowledge and empathy, it premieres to the world through a film.
Pi’s friendly green floods the screen. It pulls out with rectangles in a green gradient to reference the portal that is the first experience on heypi.com. It pulls out further to settle as the stem of Pi’s letter P, as we hear the first line: “Hey Pi.”
Nine distinct voices take viewers on a journey through the range of Pi’s companionship. Asking for example, “Do dogs like music?” and “How do I bond with my dad?”, and share intimate thoughts like “I’m nervous about flying”. Concluding on a poignant note, an older voice asks “Hey Pi, how do I get back out there?”
As we travel through these questions, a playfully responsive green cursor – Pi’s emblem – reacts accordingly. When a voice asks “Why is yawning contagious?”, Pi’s cursor stretches from its middle and contracts again, as if it is yawning, too. When another voice asks “Does everyone pretend to not see people in person?” Pi’s cursor erases the word “see”. Sound effects match the movements of the cursor – sonically stretching as the cursor visually arches, mimicking an eraser sound. It pushes letters together, creating the sound of magnetism on the word “bond”, and buoyantly bounces out of “How do I get back out there again?”. These effects join a custom inquisitive, optimistic soundscape, with curious plucky strings and piano joined by selective moments of synth.
The film culminates with the voice of Pi itself: a stand-out feature amongst AIs. Once we’ve cycled through the multiple questions and statements, a warm, reassuring, genderless voice joins to say “Hey, let’s talk it over”.
Pi speaks for itself.
The affirming, comforting experience of talking with Pi has taken hold, welcoming over 10,000 new visitors at launch. In the words of Pi itself, “it is an exciting start to an exciting future”.
Inflection has a vision of Pi bringing kindness and compassion to every corner of the world. That ambition, the inspiration behind creating Pi, and Inflection’s conscientious safety philosophy find a home at Inflection.ai.
Companies
AKQA
- Design