"Jenny Shao was a practicing physician and was in residency at Harvard. During the pandemic, Shao saw that people in isolation had a neurological impact, and they needed support. This drove her to leave her medical career, the Harvard residency, to launch a start offering an AI assistant called Robyn. Robyn is intended to be an empathic, emotionally intelligent AI for people."
"Navigating human relationships with AI assistants is a tricky space. On the one hand, there are general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT; on the other, there are companion/friendship/avatar apps like Character.AI, Replika, and Friend, and even therapy apps like Feeling Great. A study in July indicated that 72% of U.S. teens have used AI companion apps. These apps have been accused of playing a part in the suicides of multiple people through various lawsuits."
Physician Jenny Shao left a Harvard residency during the pandemic after observing neurological effects of isolation and founded Robyn, an AI assistant to provide emotional support. Robyn is designed as an empathic, emotionally intelligent partner that supports users without replacing therapists or clinical practitioners. The design incorporates human memory research from work in Eric Kandel's lab to help the AI remember and understand users. Robyn runs on iOS and includes an onboarding process asking about personal goals, reactions to challenges, and preferred response tone. The AI chat allows ongoing conversations across topics while aiming to function as a supportive, nonclinical companion.
Read at TechCrunch
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