In 2023, after nearly three decades as CEO of the company he founded, Robert LoCascio stepped down from his role at LivePerson. This public firm is credited with pioneering web chat back in 1997. The rapid advances in generative AI inspired his next project, which he describes as the highest bar for the technology: replicating human beings with their life stories and personality.
In 2024, he founded and self-funded Eternos, a legacy service designed to allow people to preserve their voice and stories for loved ones after they pass away. The startup gained significant media attention after its first client, a terminally ill man named Michael Bommer, revealed how he worked with the company. He spent 25 hours talking about his life, interests, and worldview to create a digital replica of himself.
LoCascio was initially set on building a legacy business, but he was surprised to find that most people considering Eternos were not preparing for death. This insight led to a shift in the company’s direction. Eternos developed the Human Life Model, a framework that uses only an individual’s personal data to capture their unique values, life story, and decision-making traits, rather than relying on general large language model data. LoCascio saw an opportunity to use this technology to help individuals create personal AIs for both professional and personal use.
The company announced on Tuesday that it has rebranded as Uare.ai and raised 10.3 million dollars in seed funding. The funding round was led by Mayfield and Boldstart Ventures. LoCascio explained his realization that large models are getting smarter by using our collective data. He believes individuals should own their own model and have the ability to share it and monetize it.
The vision for Uare.ai is to become a scaling tool for creators and professionals. Since the personal AI models contain an individual’s full expertise, a digital replica can be put to work generating content, handling customer interactions, and even executing projects. Once the platform launches later this year, individuals will be able to train their Human Life Models by responding to questions about their lives using text, voice, and video.
The process begins with gathering a human life story, asking about childhood and significant life crossroads. Then the person submits additional facts about their life and profession. The company blends these facts with the life story to create the individual’s unique model. Unlike other chatbots, Uare.ai’s model will not use general large language models to fill in gaps. If the model cannot answer a question based on its trained data, it will simply state that it does not know.
Uare.ai plans to generate revenue through subscription fees or by taking a share of the revenue that customers earn from their digital twins. Another startup in the personal AI space is Sequoia-backed Delphi, which has attracted people with large followings and allows others to interact with replicated knowledge. Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield, believes Uare.ai stands out from competitors because it targets individual professionals and is led by a very successful entrepreneur in Robert LoCascio.