Bluesky leans into AI with Attie, an app for building custom feeds

The squad from Bluesky has built different app — and this time, it’s not a societal network, but an AI adjunct that allows you to plan your ain algorithm, make customized feeds, and, 1 day, vibe-code your ain app.

At the Atmosphere league implicit the weekend, Bluesky’s former CEO, Jay Graber, present main innovation officer, and Bluesky CTO Paul Frazee, presented the AI app, called Attie, for the archetypal time. Conference attendees volition go the archetypal beta testers for the caller experience, which leverages Anthropic’s Claude nether the hood to make an agentic societal app built connected Bluesky’s underlying protocol, the AT Protocol (or atproto for short).

“It’s a caller merchandise — it’s not a portion of the Bluesky app,” explains interim CEO Toni Schneider successful an interview. (In summation to his CEO role, Schneider is simply a spouse astatine Bluesky backer True Ventures.) “We’ve launched a batch of things wrong Bluesky — Starter Packs and customized feeds, and each those kinds of things. This is simply a standalone product, and it’s the archetypal 1 that’s built by Jay’s caller team.”

ScreenshotImage Credits:Attie from Bluesky

With Attie, anyone volition beryllium capable to physique their ain customized provender conscionable by typing successful commands successful earthy language, the aforesaid arsenic if they’re chatting with immoderate different AI chatbot. To usage the app, radical volition motion successful with their Atmosphere login (meaning their login for immoderate app that runs connected atproto, which includes Bluesky). Attie volition instantly recognize what you’ve been talking about, what benignant of things you like, and more, due to the fact that Bluesky and the wider ecosystem are unfastened systems that stock information crossed apps.

You tin inquire Attie questions, similar what posts you mightiness similar to spot oregon repost, and you tin usage the app to curate your ain customized feed, personalized to you.

“You power it, you signifier it, without having to constitute codification oregon cognize however to acceptable up these feeds,” Schneider says. “It’s the opening of conscionable having a batch much radical beryllium capable to physique connected apical of the Atmosphere.”

Plus, helium adds, “It is an AI product, but it’s an AI merchandise that’s precise people-focused … We deliberation AI is simply a precise almighty technology, but we privation to marque definite that we usage it to physique things that truly payment people.”

At launch, Attie tin beryllium utilized to physique and presumption these feeds, which volition aboriginal go disposable to you wrong Bluesky oregon immoderate different atproto app. Over time, the program is to let Attie’s users to vibe-code their ain societal apps arsenic good arsenic physique tools for different people.

ScreenshotImage Credits:Attie from Bluesky

Schneider says that Graber and her squad began moving connected the app a fewer months ago, which was astir the aforesaid clip she decided to instrumentality to building, alternatively of moving the company.

“I deliberation she realized that determination was truthful overmuch much that she wanted to build, and conscionable doing the CEO occupation kept her busy, and she felt similar she wanted much time,” Schneider tells TechCrunch. “As she spent much time, [and] got freed up, I deliberation it became wide that this is her blessed place. She’s an astonishing person and visionary, and we privation her gathering much things and not worrying astir operating the company,” helium says.

Graber says today, AI is being utilized by the large platforms to service themselves, not their users, by trying to summation people’s clip spent successful their apps, harvesting data, and controlling their algorithms.

“We deliberation AI should service people, not platforms,” Graber said successful her announcement of Attie. “An unfastened protocol puts this powerfulness straight successful users’ hands. You tin usage it to physique your ain feeds, make bundle that works the mode you privation it to, and find awesome successful the noise.”

Graber’s determination to erstwhile again absorption connected protocol and merchandise was followed by the company’s announcement that it now has $100 cardinal successful further funding from a circular that closed past year. The squad hopes that quality serves arsenic a awesome to the wider assemblage that Bluesky volition proceed to beryllium around.

“It means we person three-plus years of runway, which is great. That means stableness and information for the remainder of the ecosystem,” Schneider tells TechCrunch. It besides means that Bluesky’s squad has clip to tackle the bigger challenges ahead, which see adding privateness controls to the protocol and uncovering a mode to monetize the societal web of 43.4 million users.

One happening that Schneider assures america is not successful the works, however, is immoderate crypto integration — contempt the fiscal backing from aggregate crypto investors. That’s thing that had disquieted immoderate Bluesky users, who feared the app would beryllium filled with crypto scams oregon go a outgo tool.

“It’s the benignant of investors who were attracted to crypto due to the fact that of its decentralization, and they were investing successful things built connected the blockchain that were ace decentralized,” Schneider says of Bluesky’s backers successful the crypto space. “This is decentralized social, truthful it fits those who are invested to judge successful the level and the ecosystem opportunity.”

Instead, the institution whitethorn experimentation with different means of monetization. The squad hasn’t yet decided if Attie volition yet necessitate a fee, arsenic it’s lone a backstage beta for the clip being. Other ideas being batted astir see subscriptions and hosting services for those who privation to big their ain communities connected the protocol.

Schneider, the erstwhile CEO of Automattic, the location of publishing level WordPress.com, sees the imaginable for the Atmosphere arsenic being akin to WordPress successful this way.

“At the halfway of [the Atmosphere] is simply a wholly unfastened system, truthful anybody tin participate,” helium says. “You tin person each of these independent, decentralized pieces that enactment together. With WordPress, that turned into a immense ecosystem with billions of dollars — implicit $10 cardinal a year, present — flowing done it.”

Schneider continues, “So it’s gotten precise big, adjacent though it’s wholly decentralized. And this is what we’re hoping for, for the Atmosphere to person that akin quality for tons of these apps and services to coexist and enactment unneurotic and physique an ecosystem.”