Why Cognition bought Poke: AI personality is becoming a competitive advantage
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.
Cognition, an AI coding startup, has acquired The Interaction Company, the creators of the AI assistant Poke, for a deal valued in the low nine figures. This acquisition aims to integrate Poke’s conversational and personality-driven interaction model into Cognition’s coding assistant, Devin. The move highlights a growing trend where the user interaction style of AI assistants is becoming as critical as their underlying technology.
- Cognition has acquired The Interaction Company, maker of the AI assistant Poke, for a deal valued in the ‘low nine figures’.
- Poke’s unique, friendly, and humorous interaction model will be integrated into Cognition’s AI coding assistant, Devin.
- The acquisition emphasizes the increasing importance of AI personality and user interaction in the AI assistant market.
- Poke, launched in March 2026, engages users via various messaging platforms for tasks across travel, health, finance, scheduling, and education.
- Despite high usage, Poke faced profitability challenges due to high operational costs.
- Poke was the first AI agent approved for Apple’s Messages for Business platform.
- Future plans include experimenting with combining Poke and Devin, potentially making Devin more like Poke and Poke more reliable for orchestrating coding tasks.
Continue reading https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/
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