tech
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.
TL;DR
- 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.