Khaberni - In a new step that reflects the evolution of communication platforms, the Shapes app appears as one of the most prominent emerging projects that seeks to integrate artificial intelligence into daily conversations, allowing direct interaction between users and digital personalities within shared group chats.
The app, which was founded in 2022, has successfully attracted more than 400,000 active users per month and has recently secured an initial funding of 8 million dollars, indicating investors' interest in this type of new social experiments.
Group chat with smart characters
The concept of Shapes is based on introducing artificial intelligence characters - known within the app as “Shapes” - into group conversations, where they interact with users as if they were real people, clearly indicating their artificial nature, according to a report published by "TechCrunch" and reviewed by "Al Arabiya Business".
Users can create these characters themselves, defining their traits and behavior, which has led to the creation of about 3 million characters so far, many of which are inspired by fan communities and various digital cultures.
Solution to the problem of artificial intelligence isolation
The founders of the app, Anushka Mittal and Nuri Dingra, believe that the current model of interacting with artificial intelligence - which often relies on individual conversations - may contribute to what is known as artificial intelligence-related psychosis, where prolonged use leads to isolation or forming unreal perceptions.
From here, the app aims to bring artificial intelligence back into a social context, where it becomes part of a group interaction involving real people.
Artificial intelligence maintains ongoing dialogue
One of the major features of the app is that the smart characters do not wait to be summoned; instead, they can start conversations and participate in them automatically, helping to keep the chat active, especially in groups that suffer from silence or members' hesitation to start talking.
The app also ensures that no message is ignored, as the smart characters always respond, enhancing the feeling of continuous interaction within the group.
Comparison with current experiences
Although applications like ChatGPT already allow the creation of group conversations, their use remains closer to planning or idea exchange, while Shapes focuses on the social and entertainment aspect, with characters that have a distinctive character.
Rapid growth and expansion plans
The project leaders indicate that the app has experienced significant growth, with the number of users increasing sixfold since the beginning of the year, in addition to some users spending between two to four hours daily on the platform.
With the new funding, the company plans to accelerate the development of the app and expand its user base, in an attempt to establish a new model of digital interaction that combines humans and artificial intelligence in one space.
