Sesame, the conversational AI startup founded by Oculus creators Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumar, is taking its first public swing at consumer AI. The company has launched an iOS preview of its AI agents in 39 countries, offering voice-first assistants designed to respond in real time instead of behaving like traditional text chatbots.
The app’s key feature is parallel search, which lets Sesame run multiple web searches while an agent is already speaking. That means the assistant can keep talking, adjust mid-answer, and pull in newer information without forcing users to wait for a fully composed response.
Sesame’s rollout shows exactly where consumer AI is heading. The free app features four distinct AI personalities with their own voices and memories. As reported by TechCrunch, the product integrates user feedback from a million-user beta test, introducing features such as visual search cards, a text mode, and an incognito option that uses past context without saving data. According to Sesame investor Sequoia, the startup's initial testing phase quickly drew over one million users right around the time it secured a $250 million Series B round.
The smartphone app is just the opening move for the startup, which plans to bake these AI agents into proprietary smart eyewear slated for 2027. The ultimate goal is to transition the software from a conversational tool into an autonomous agent that can execute digital tasks on a user's behalf, eliminating the need for rigid or complex prompting. As the Sesame team noted in its launch announcement, "There’s an inherent tension between replying quickly and taking the time to compose thoughtful responses."
Read more
