In early 2023, David Petrou, a veteran engineer and founding member of Google Goggles and Google Glass, left Google after more than 17 years to launch his own venture.
“I was seeing how fast technology was changing, and I felt there are certain ideas that are best explored in the context of a startup,” Petrou said.
His new company, Continua, focuses on bringing AI agents into group chats on SMS, iMessage, and Discord to enhance collaboration and communication. “The simple way to think about it is that we are bringing the power of LLMs to group chats,” he explained.
Continua announced it has raised an 8 million dollar seed round, led by GV with participation from Bessemer Ventures Partners and several angel investors.
Petrou observed that many people use ChatGPT or other large language models and then copy and paste the information into group chats. He believes that integrating AI directly into these conversations can make them more efficient.
“If you and I are planning a trip, or if we are trying to figure out what to have for dinner, or what movie to watch, all of these things can be facilitated by an LLM participating in a group chat with us,” Petrou said.
The AI agents from Continua aim to cut through the noise in group chats by providing relevant input only when needed. They can set reminders, run polls, add Google calendar events, and create Google documents with to-do lists and checklists.
If a participant forgets key details such as meeting times or locations, they can privately message Continua to retrieve the information.
While the concept may sound straightforward, Petrou explained that getting AI to engage naturally in multi-person conversations is a complex challenge. Most AI models are designed for one-on-one interactions, so Continua has had to fine-tune large language models to understand and adapt to group chat dynamics.
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