Poke: The Friendly AI Assistant That’s Revolutionizing User Interactions
Poke, the innovative AI assistant designed to engage with users as a friend rather than a mere tool, is taking significant steps forward with its recent acquisition by Cognition, an AI coding startup. This deal, evaluated in the “low nine figures,” signals both companies’ commitment to enhancing how AI can effectively interact with people.
The Acquisition: A New Chapter for Poke
The Interaction Company of California, the brains behind Poke, has officially joined forces with Cognition. This partnership aims to leverage Poke’s unique interaction model and personality to enrich Cognition’s coding assistant, Devin. In their collaboration, Cognition plans to incorporate the engaging, user-friendly conversational style of Poke, while Poke will benefit from Cognition’s cutting-edge models and infrastructure to boost its performance.
Human-Like Engagement: The Poke Difference
What truly sets Poke apart from conventional AI assistants is its ability to hold conversations that feel personal and fun. Rather than simply providing answers or completing tasks, Poke engages users with humor, slang, and a personable touch. As Marvin von Hagen, co-founder of The Interaction Company, articulates, a friendly AI experience can lead to a more enjoyable and relatable interaction, much like working alongside colleagues who have character.
This approach aims to redefine the user experience, suggesting that an AI assistant can be both enjoyable and efficient, enhancing productivity without sacrificing the human element.
Cognition’s Vision: Software as a Colleague
Cognition’s co-founder, Scott Wu, expressed enthusiasm for the acquisition, emphasizing the team’s admiration for Poke’s ability to create an interactive agent that users genuinely enjoy. Wu believes the collaboration will transform Devin into a coding assistant that feels less like software and more like a colleague.
The strategic alignment between both companies underscores a growing belief in the value of personality in AI. With this deal, Cognition envisions a future where Devin can emulate the engaging conversational style of Poke, transforming coding assistance into a collaborative and enjoyable experience.
Poke’s User Engagement: A Growing Phenomenon
Launched in March 2026, Poke is not just about conversation; it helps users accomplish a multitude of tasks such as travel planning, health management, finance tracking, scheduling appointments, and even educational questions. Just three months after its launch, Poke facilitated over 100 million messages among its users. This popularity, however, comes with its challenges; according to von Hagen, managing the platform’s operational costs has proven expensive, complicating profitability.
Approval on Apple’s Platform: A Milestone
In a significant milestone, Poke became the first AI agent approved to run on Apple’s Messages for Business platform, which standardizes customer communication in the Messages app. This validation not only establishes Poke in the competitive AI landscape but also indicates its readiness for widespread adoption across various business contexts.
Future Integrations: Poke and Devin’s Symbiosis
Looking ahead, Poke’s current operational structure will remain unchanged through the end of the year while the teams stage new experiments for 2027. The goal is to explore how both Poke and Devin can improve in synergy. Poke is set to employ Cognition’s newest software engineering model, SWE-1.7, to streamline certain tasks, while a full integration of the two products is on the table.
Von Hagen believes this amalgamation could lead to a more robust assistant capable of orchestrating multiple tasks simultaneously, enhancing productivity for users through persistent memory of tasks across different sessions. This innovative approach suggests that users could eventually rely on both Poke and Devin as their “co-workers,” fostering a seamless workflow.
The Value of a Persistent Co-Worker
“Right now, Devin can only handle one pull request at a time,” noted von Hagen. The vision is to expand Devin’s capabilities while allowing Poke to manage various coding tasks efficiently and remember user preferences across interactions. This could revolutionize how users engage with AI in their daily work, making collaboration with AI both memorable and effective.
This strategic partnership between Poke and Cognition not only highlights advancements in AI interaction but also sets the stage for a future where intelligent assistants are integral parts of our work and daily lives.