Text.ai makes Alfi, an AI that lives inside group chats on iMessage, WhatsApp, SMS and Telegram. Alfi joins a conversation naturally, with no @mentions or slash commands, and judges from context whether it is being asked for help or people are just chatting. It plans social events, books dinner reservations through Yelp, sets reminders for the group and creates or edits images together in real time. Over time it learns a group's style, jokes and preferences, handles conversations in several languages, and can be customized.
Alfi is meant for friends, families, clubs and communities that coordinate in group chats. The usual planner of a friend group can hand off the booking and reminder work. Long-distance friends can use it to sync movie nights across time zones, as one fashion blogger describes. Community organizers can add it to a chat to answer questions and keep conversation moving. Anyone who enjoys making quick edited pictures with a crew can use the shared image tools. More than 500,000 people are listed as users.
A dinner plan shows the idea. Friends discuss where to eat, and Alfi suggests options and books a table via Yelp when asked. It then sets a reminder so nobody forgets the time. During a trip, the group can generate and edit images together and receive a Group Chat Wrapped recap of the conversation. In a movie night chat, Alfi suggests films available on everyone's streaming services and helps line up start times across time zones. Because it stays quiet unless it is useful, it fits chats where people want help occasionally and not constant bot replies.
