Ex-plaud executive launches AI app that listens in the background

Former Plaud executive Peter Mo has launched Ambi, an AI app that continuously listens to users to provide real-time insights and assistance. The app, which has raised $26 million in funding led by Luminous Ventures and Huaqin, is available on iPhones, Macs, and Apple Watches. Ambi aims to capture context during meetings and offer proactive suggestions based on users' calendars, meetings, and web data. Mo, co-founder and CEO of Ambi, emphasized the need for AI to be accessible anytime and anywhere, contrasting it with existing hardware that requires data transfer and processing. Ambi plans to expand with a desktop app that will store key work data for personalized suggestions and a hardware device with a screen, speaker, camera, and microphones. However, concerns about privacy and data collection persist, as the app lacks clear indicators to alert users of ambient data capture. Mo acknowledged the industry-wide challenge of ensuring transparency, noting that users must inform others about the use of such technology. The startup, based in San Francisco, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, is hiring for go-to-market and AI engineering roles.