Sesame Launches Its iOS App with Advanced AI Agents

The AI startup Sesame, co-founded by the creators of Oculus and other members of the virtual reality company that was sold to Meta, recently launched an iOS app that marks a turning point in the field of conversational artificial intelligence. This app, unveiled on Thursday, offers a public glimpse of the AI agents that the company has been developing for over a year. Sesame's goal is to reinvent the experience of AI chatbots, popularized by applications like ChatGPT, by creating an environment where conversation flows naturally, even if the AI needs time to think.

According to the company's launch announcement, there is an inherent tension between the speed of responses and their accuracy. A slower response tends to be more correct but can feel artificial if it takes too long. To overcome this challenge, Sesame has developed fast search and retrieval systems that allow the AI to access up-to-date information. Additionally, the technology developed by Sesame enables the AI to perform multiple searches in parallel while speaking, integrating these results into its responses as it goes. This means that the AI can change topics mid-sentence, just as a human might do when recalling another key fact.

The app features four distinct AI agents: Maya, Miles, Simone, and Charlie. Each of these agents has its own voice, personality, perspective, and memory. Maya and Miles were already available in the preview of Sesame's technology, where they were quickly adopted by over a million people in the first few weeks, according to Sequoia, one of Sesame's investors. The company raised $250 million in its Series B round with Sequoia and other investors, and opened a beta version at that time.

During the beta phase, Sesame incorporated user feedback to improve the app. Among the added features are research cards with image results to visualize concepts, notes to capture key points, a messaging mode for times when speaking aloud is not an option, and support for in-depth explorations to obtain more detailed results. An incognito mode has also been introduced for private conversations, where agents can access prior context without retaining memory.

The iOS app is available today in 39 countries, and the full experience is currently free, although a short waiting list may exist upon registration. A preview for Android is planned for the future, according to the company.

However, the app is just the first step towards Sesame's more ambitious AI projects. The company plans to launch smart glasses in 2027. Before that, the AI agents will learn to do more than just think alongside users. They will be able to act on their behalf, hence their designation as "agents" rather than mere chatbots. This could be particularly interesting, as working with agentic tools or applications today requires one to be able to precisely articulate their needs and know how to fulfill them. A conversational agent that one could speak to naturally could facilitate these interactions without requiring a perfectly formulated command.