A new personal AI assistant named Tab has announced that it has come out of stealth with a $300 million valuation. The company declined to share exact funding details, according to reports.
Tab joins a growing group of consumer AI assistants, including Instinct, described as a breakout hit, and Meta's Muse, all pitched as helpers for everyday jobs such as booking reservations and travel, Tech Crunch reported.
The People Behind It
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Brennan Erbz, Stafford Schlitt and Ammar Amdani began building Tab earlier this year. Backers of the round include SV Angel, Valar Ventures and American Spirit. At the moment, Amdani said, most of Tab's growth comes from word of mouth, and the company plans another product launch soon, the report said.
How Tab Works
Using Tab means sending it a text on iMessage or WhatsApp describing what you need, whether that's a grocery order or gift ideas for a birthday party, and Tab then carries out the task. "You text it like you'd text someone you trust and it takes the weight off," Amdani said. "The bills, the bookings, the calls you keep putting off, remembering the people you love." He said the assistant has "its own phone number, computer, and wallet."
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A Crowded Field
Amdani recognised that this has become something of a race among consumer AI products. "Everyone is racing to make AI more capable," he said. He also pointed to how earlier generations were looked after: "Your grandparents had a family doctor, a banker, someone who knew them and looked out for them," Amdani said. "Most of us don't have that anymore." Personalized AI is where assistants like Tab could come in, though Amdani said the winners of this race won't necessarily be the ones with the best demos.
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Trust As The Product
"We think the harder question is whether you should let it in," Amdani said. An assistant that can read email, make phone calls or buy things is "only as good as your trust in it," and that, he said, is why Tab is built around trust. His summary of the company's approach: "Your data is never used to train AI. Your card lives in a vault Tab itself never sees. Nothing that can be undone happens without your 'yes.' Capability is table stakes. Trust is the product."
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