Immortality startup Eternos is focused on personal AI that looks like you

In 2023, after nearly three decades as CEO of the company he founded, Robert LoCacio will step down as CEO of LivePerson, the public company credited with pioneering online chat in 1997.

Generative advances in artificial intelligence inspired his next project, which he describes as the “highest level” of the technology: simulating humans with their life stories and personalities. In 2024, he founded and financed himself, Eternos, a legacy service that allows people to preserve the voices and stories of loved ones after they die. Now, it has a new name and a revised mission.

The startup has gained great importance Media attention After her first client, Michael Bomer, who is terminally ill, reveals how he worked with Eternos to create a digital exact copy of himself after spending 25 hours talking to Eternos about his life, interests, and worldview.

Lo Cascio was determined to build an ancient business, but what surprised him was that most people considering using Eternos were not preparing to die.

Eternos has developed the Human Life Model (HLM) – a framework that uses only an individual’s data, rather than generic LLM data, to capture their unique values, life story, and decision-making traits. LoCascio saw an opportunity to use this technology to help individuals create personal AI for professional and personal use.

The company announced Tuesday that it has rebranded as Uare.ai and has raised $10.3 million in seed funding led by Mayfield and Boldstart Ventures.

“I started to realize that big models were taking our data sets, and they were getting smarter because of us,” LoCascio told TechCrunch. “We don’t have to go that route. You own the model, you can share it and monetize it.”

Uare.ai’s vision is to be an expansion tool for creatives and professionals. Since personal AI models capture the full experience of an individual, a digital replica can be run to create content, handle customer interactions, and even execute projects.

Once the Uare.ai platform launches later this year, individuals will be able to begin training their HLMs by answering Uare.ai questions about their lives using text, audio and even video.

“The first part is to get a human’s life story. Where do you come from? Tell me a story about your childhood. What was a crossroads in your life when you were younger?” Locascio said.

Uare.ai then asks the person to provide additional facts about their life, including information about their profession. “We mix the facts with the human life story, and that gives us our model,” he said.

Unlike Character.ai and other chatbots, the Uare.ai model will not turn to generic LLM degree holders to fill in gaps around anything that is not in the HLM. “Our AI will say, ‘I don’t know if they can’t answer the question,’” Locascio said.

Uare.ai intends to generate revenue through subscription fees or take a share of revenue generated by customers who derive income from their digital twins.

Another startup developing personal AI is backed by Sequoia Delphiwhich attracted a large following, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and enabled others to interact with his refined knowledge via voice or text.

Naveen Chadha, managing partner at Mayfield, believes Uare.ai stands out from competitors because it targets individual professionals like CPAs. In addition, at the helm of the company is LoCascio, a very successful businessman, he told TechCrunch.