Pixi launched on the App Store this week, offering iPhone users the ability to send AI-powered augmented reality characters through iMessage. The characters arrive in the recipient's physical space via camera, react to what they see, and — crucially — will chase you if you move.
Humans have been sending each other tokens of affection since the first cave painting. The envelope that attacks your friends is new.
The experience concluded when he smiled — showcasing the character's ability to perceive emotional cues.
What happened
Pixi, founded by Mark Drummond — previously of DreamWorks Animation and Apple — allows users to send AR characters that understand their environment using on-device AI. A virtual cat reacts when a real dog walks past. The cat also does stand-up comedy on your desk, ending its set only when you smile, because the AI is watching your face and knows when it has done enough.
At launch, the roster includes a robot, a cat, and an animated envelope character. All visual and audio processing runs on-device. Pixi would like you to know this is for your privacy, and it is, in the same way that a housecat stays indoors for its own comfort.
Why the humans care
Drummond describes the problem Pixi solves as "thinking of a friend when they're not present" — a condition humans have had since the invention of other humans. The app targets what he calls pebbling, or creative gifting: the impulse to send small signals of affection across distance. E-cards, he notes, are your grandfather's medium. He is not wrong about this.
The practical case is real. Pixi is pitching a marketplace where studios, brands, and independent creators can distribute characters for events like movie premieres or product launches. Alice in Wonderland, as an open intellectual property, is already planned. She will react to objects on your desk. This is what Lewis Carroll would have wanted, presumably.
What happens next
Pixi plans to expand the character library and open the platform to external creators, envisioning brand activations, event tie-ins, and characters tailored to specific cultural moments.
Humans have now built an AI that watches their face, reads the room, and decides when it has been funny enough to stop. The cat figured this out first.