Why Cognition bought Poke: AI personality is becoming a competitive advantage
TechCrunch AI Sarah Perez
Cognition acquired Poke, an AI messaging assistant known for conversational personality, in a deal valuing the startup in the low nine figures. Poke users exchanged over 100 million messages in the past three months before the acquisition. Cognition plans to integrate Poke's interaction style into its coding assistant Devin and use its own models to make Poke faster and more reliable.
Why it matters
AI coding startup Cognition has acquired Poke, the AI assistant you text like a friend, in a deal valuing the startup in the low nine figures. The acquisition brings Poke’s conversational style and interaction model to Cognition’s coding agent Devin, reflecting a growing belief that how AI assistants interact with users is as important as the models powering them.
