In 2023, after nearly three decades as CEO of the company he founded, Robert LoCascio stepped down as CEO of LivePerson, the public firm credited with pioneering web chat in 1997.
Generative AI advances inspired his next project, which he calls “the highest bar” for the technology: replicating human beings with their life stories and personality. In 2024, he founded and self-funded, Eternos, a legacy service that allows people to preserve their voice and stories for loved ones after they pass away. Now, it’s got a new name and modified mission.
The startup gained significant media attention after its first client, the terminally ill Michael Bommer, revealed how he worked with Eternos to create a digital replica of himself after spending 25 hours talking to Eternos about his life, interests, and worldview.
Lo Cascio was set on building a legacy business, but what surprised him was that most of the people considering using Eternos weren’t preparing for death.
Eternos developed the Human Life Model (HLM) — a framework that uses only an individual’s data, rather than general LLM data, to capture their unique values, life story, and decision-making traits. LoCascio saw an opportunity to use this technology to help individuals create personal AIs for professional and personal use.
The company announced Tuesday it has rebranded as Uare.ai and raised $10.3 million in seed funding led by Mayfield and Boldstart Ventures.
“I started to realize that the big models, they’re taking our datasets, and they’re getting smarter because of us,” LoCascio told TechCrunch. “We don’t have to take that path. You own the model, and you can share it and monetize it.”
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The vision for Uare.ai is to be a scaling tool for creators and professionals. Since the personal AI models hold the individual’s full expertise, a digital replica can be put to work to generate content, handle customer interactions, and even execute projects.
Once Uare.ai’s platform launches later this year, individuals will be able to start training their HLMs by responding to Uare.ai questions about their lives using text, voice, and even video.
“The first part is getting a human life story. Where’d you come from? Tell me a story about your childhood. What’s a crossroad in your life when you were younger?” LoCascio said.
Uare.ai then asks the person to submit additional facts about their life, including information about their profession. “We blend the facts with this human life story, and that gives us your model,” he said.
Unlike Character.ai and other chatbots, Uare.ai’s model won’t turn to general LLMs to fill the gaps about anything that’s not in HLM. “Our AIs will say, I don’t know if they can’t answer the question,” LoCascio said.
Uare.ai intends to generate revenue through subscription fees or take a share of the revenue generated by customers who earn income from their digital twins.
Another startup developing personal AIs is Sequoia-backed Delphi, which has attracted people with large followings, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and enables others to interact with his replicated knowledge via voice or text.
Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield, believes Uare.ai stands out from competitors because it targets individual professionals like CPAs. Plus, it has LoCascio, a very successful entrepreneur at the helm, he told TechCrunch.
