Pi launched in 2022 from Inflection AI, built around a different goal than most chatbots on this list: everyday, emotionally supportive conversation rather than task completion, research, or coding, positioning itself closer to a thoughtful conversational companion than a productivity assistant.
That direction changed substantially in March 2024, when Microsoft licensed Inflection's technology for $650 million and hired nearly the entire team, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, who became CEO of Microsoft's own consumer AI division. Inflection AI continued to exist under new leadership but shifted its business toward building custom AI for enterprise customers rather than growing Pi as a consumer product, and Pi's underlying technology has since been positioned partly as a foundation for business customer-service bots instead.
Pi remains free and accessible for existing conversational use. For anyone specifically interested in Pi as a supportive conversational assistant, it's worth checking directly for current features and development activity given the company's substantial 2024 pivot away from consumer-focused growth toward enterprise work.
