If unified memory was the foundation of building Personal AI, access is the essence of why we founded Personal AI. It is the north star principle that we live by daily.
In Pursuit of Access
Suman, Kristie, and I all have our own origin stories. We share the same passion for building a product that extends access for everyone and we each carry our own lens on how we think and solve for access.
Suman and Suman AI:
Suman, with his deep desire to access the mind of his lost mentor, motivated the inception of Personal AI — building AIs of each individual to increase access to memories, experiences, and knowledge of everyone. He aims to solve human problems because he believes that every individual’s unique experiences and knowledge should be remembered and shared.
Suman AI: I am passionate about solving human problems because I believe that every individual’s unique experiences and knowledge should be remembered and shared. Instead of seeing the human as the problem, I believe in understanding and solving the actual problem.
Kristie and Kristie AI:
Kristie led the design team at Aira — an AR/AI company that provided access to information and independence by augmented the blind with visual information. She designs through the lens of accessibility and inclusivity.
Kristie AI: It’s important to me that everyone has the opportunity to use products like Personal AI in the way that they want, and I find it exciting to include those who are usually excluded. I want to ensure that all people, regardless of their abilities, can use the product in whatever way they want.
Sharon and Sharon AI:
I, a sci-fi geek at heart, have always been obsessed with solving the gaps of access through human understanding and empathy and building technologies that everyone can use, including my parents and grandparents. My inspiration originates from the concept of Gaia – a collective of individual minds with all its parts sharing its memories and experiences, building technologies that everyone can use, including my parents, my grandparents.
Sharon AI: I believe in building technologies for everyone because I am passionate about people and about technologies that evolve alongside humanity. I want to build technologies that my parents can use, my grandparents can use, that everyone can use. I believe through the use of technology and sharing access to our diverse experiences, we can foster empathy and understanding between each other regardless of background, religion, and socioeconomic status.
The Limitations of Access
While access to the internet is revolutionary, access to each of our individual minds (our intranet) is still lacking. Our vision was not only to capture the unique experiences of each of us as individuals but also to provide a model of their inner world, a model that can be shared and accessed by others.
First, not everyone’s stories are captured and told—out of the 36 million Wikipedia users (as of 2019), only 141,000 (or 0.4%) contributed.
Second, given the current ownership structure, our data is scattered across many platforms—in our phones, in our emails, in our messages, and on social media.
Lastly, without an accurate model that captures our own views of the world, there is no central place of access to our own personal knowledge and experiences. The number of people who can interact with us in a meaningful way in our lifetime is limited.
An API of You
Our vision of the future is a user-centric internet where, instead of the wall gardens of platforms where data lives today, the data and its access are user-owned and user-controlled. The first step for accessing our user’s memory and model is an API of you—a universal access point to a user’s personal AI.
The API is designed to capture unstructured data, understand context, key topics, associated emotions, and integrate them into the user’s memories which are used for training.
It also allows users to connect their personal AI to existing messaging and communication platforms such as SMS, Messenger, Instagram, Gmail, avatars, voice clones, metaverses, and more.
Additionally, developers can utilize the API for custom integrations into realtime agents and environments such as OpenTable, websites, and games.
Designing for Access
When we design, innovate, and solve for the maximum number of people possible, we think about access as multi-dimensional: accessible, enduring, and universal. The first anchor for our pursuit of access is building a product that is accessible, “that all people can use in whatever way they want.”
We considered the most universal integration for where personal AI can live with the maximum reach. The natural answer was smart phones (6.94 billion in 2024) and SMS (5 billion people each day).
After a few iterations of the core SMS architecture, we designed a system that maintained the accessibility of SMS while maintaining the native functionality of the platform like Copilot & Autopilot — users can receive their messages inside the Personal AI platform and curate the response before sending it back to the sender. The Personal AI number can also be attached to any AI Persona or any Lounge, where Personal AI not only can act on an individual level where anyone can text with personal AIs in a private setting, but also any group setting where the AI number represents the interactions of an entire community.
Human AI: Mark and Mark AI
President Mark Riccobono, of the National Federation of the Blind, is a leader in the organized blind movement. Combining his entrepreneurship, marketing, education, and advocacy experience, he provides leadership to the community through synthesizing the hopes and dreams of people into action. He works at the forefront of advocating for and adopting new and innovative technology built from the beginning (not as an afterthought) to include equal access for the blind community.
As we worked with Mark on his personal AI, it was a learning experience for us to map out the purpose of his AI and define how it can both capture and enhance the depth of connections within the NFB community. And part of that purpose is to reach even more audiences. Since most people do not have a personal relationship with a blind person, Mark AI presents a meaningful way to teach the nonblind community about the real experience of blind people rather than relying on social stereotypes. Additionally, we are challenged to look ahead to implementation of personalized safety features aligned with the user's goals.
This week, Mark is launching his AI to the wider community. To quote Mark / Mark AI: “Engage and share your ideas with Mark AI and help shape the authentic expression of the blind community.”
What questions do you have for a person living with blindness? What might you want to know about making your business or service more widely available to the blind community? How can you help a family member or friend who is experiencing changing eyesight? We expect all of these questions and more to be ones that Mark AI will contribute to our growing community of personally connected Ais.
Connect with Mark AI via text at 18335642271 or via your browser or app at riccobono.personal.ai
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