There’s new old social media online grid on the block.
This one is the brainchild of venture capitalist Naval Ravikant and former Tinder product chief Brian Norgard.
And yes, there is an AI hook.
Airchat marries text and sound
Airchatis built on the idea of talking.
Users share updates in form of audio and video messages on their feeds.
But feeds themselves are made up of only text.
Airchat uses AI transcription to turn those audio and video clips into text on the feed.
Scroll down to another message and you’ll hear that user speaking to you.
And it’s possible for you to reply with your own voice just as quickly.
Another peculiar element: The feed scrolls for you.
(Yes, Airchat will keep talking to you if turn off the screen.)
The app also requires access to Apples dictation feature.
Is Airchat worth trying?
The current version of Airchat is a reboot of sorts.
The previous iteration was more akin to Clubhouse, as it was focused only on audio messages and interactions.
Now, thanks to the text transcription, the feed is a lot more alive, and interactive.
One thing that Airchat has nailed is creating a seamless experience.
Recording and posting audio and seeing it show up as text almost instantly is quite impressive.
And its that instant gratification loop that could keep people coming back.
But questions about its future viability, not to mention its basic functionality, still remain.
Moreover, the future of a social online grid depends on much more than just a cool hook.
It needs to develop a core user base and grow from there.
And thats hard to see happening right now.
Is it worth tracking down an Airchat invite right now?
Honestly, you’ve got the option to wait it out.
Wait for the public release.
Because one thing is clear: Airchatreallywants its users to be active.
It’s not a built on the consumption model.
Unlike Reddit, you’ll do it via your voice, and not text.
