Shapes, a group chat app mixing humans and AI characters, emerges from stealth with $8 million in seed funding.

Shapes has more than 400,000 monthly active users and has seen a sixfold increase in users since the start of the year. The company raised $8 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, with participation from AI Capital Partners, AI Grant, and angel investors.

Unlike one-on-one AI chatbots, Shapes lets humans and AI characters (called 'Shapes') interact together in shared group conversations. Users can create custom Shapes with chosen personalities; three million Shapes have already been created. Unlike AI companions that must be summoned, Shapes have free will and can initiate messages.

Founders Anushk Mittal and Noorie Dhingra designed the app to address 'AI Psychosis'—where prolonged one-on-one AI interactions can cause delusions or paranoia—by embedding AI into everyday group settings with real people. The app is targeted at 'people who are obsessively online' and thousands of users spend two to four hours in the app each day.