AI assistant

Z Product | Outsmarted Bing, Won Musk’s Prize: How Two Gen-Z Geniuses Built the First-Round $100M-Valued AI Assistant Poke

Honghao Wang

02 Nov 2025 — 5 min read

Z Highlights

Image source: The Interaction Company of California, Inc.

A bold new AI assistant called Poke has been created by a 10-person team, breaking away from the traditional “people‑pleasing” AI persona. To join, users must first convince an AI gatekeeper and negotiate the subscription price—almost like striking a business deal with a witty counterpart.
Runs entirely inside iMessage—no extra apps needed—and responds to commands as casually as texting a friend. It can connect to your email and calendar, proactively booking flights, paying bills, or rescheduling meetings.
Founded by two Gen‑Z tech prodigies with impressive track records—winners of an Elon Musk competition and discoverers of a Bing flaw. Already backed by $15M in funding led by General Catalyst, with a $100M valuation.

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1. Negotiating With AI: From $85 Down to $10

Unlike conventional subscription‑based apps, Poke refuses to offer a free trial. Users must persuade its AI gatekeeper to gain access.

How it works:

Registration – After signing up, users meet the “gatekeeper” bot.
Persuasion Required – It asks, “Why do you think you deserve access to Poke?”. Since it can read your emails, it already knows you; your reasons must be genuine.
Dynamic Pricing – Instead of fixed tiers, Poke invites haggling. My starting quote was $85/month; after spirited negotiation, it dropped to $10/month.

The personality of Poke is vibrant—it even pokes fun at big names like OpenAI and Netflix during the process.

Image source: Screenshot using Poke

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2. Goodbye Passive AI – Hello Proactive Assistance

Most AI today is reactive—it waits for input, can’t act across apps, and leaves users to manually stitch together completed tasks. ChatGPT can draft text but can’t send that email or book your flight.

On September 8, 2025, Silicon Valley startup Interaction quietly launched Poke, a high‑function iMessage‑based personal AI assistant.

What Makes Poke Different

Embedded in iMessage – no separate app, no logins.
Direct actions via text commands – trip planning, booking flights/hotels, fetching booking numbers, paying invoices, rearranging meetings, and replying to emails.
Cross‑app execution – integrates with email, calendars, and accounts.

Image source: The Interaction Company of California, Inc.

> Poke behaves like a conversation with a friend—fast, easy, and with privacy first.

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AI for Creators

As tools like Poke evolve, creators seek similarly smooth workflows. AiToEarn官网 is one such open‑source, AI‑powered content monetization platform, supporting cross‑platform publishing to Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Rednote, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, and X (Twitter).

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3. Seamless Integration for Real Life

Marvin von Hagen, Interaction’s co‑founder & CEO, notes:

> “Users want to text AI the same way they text a partner, friend, parent, or colleague. Poke is the first app to deliver this perfect experience: texting, one‑click payments, changing flights, rescheduling meetings—all with privacy first.”

Real‑World Efficiency

Finding a restaurant normally means opening multiple apps—Poke condenses the process to one request.
Replying to an email? Just tell Poke—no copy‑paste needed.

Image source: Screenshot using Poke

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Beta Test Highlights

This summer, 6,000 Silicon Valley insiders tested Poke, exchanging ~200,000 messages/month across companies like OpenAI, Google, Stripe, Figma, and Anthropic.

Unexpected uses:

Parents getting math exercises for their kids.
Dating advice and date arrangements.
Barcelona trip planning with rescheduling support.
Chasing overdue invoices.

Image source: X

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4. Technology, Privacy & Security

Vision: A future with fewer standalone apps; AI proactively presents upcoming deadlines and unanswered emails before being asked.

Tech Stack: A mix of Anthropic, OpenAI, Voyage, Mistral AI models + in‑house fine‑tuning.

Privacy:

Max privacy by default
SOC 2 compliance
End‑to‑end encryption (engineers can’t read conversations)
Certifications: SOC 2 Type II, Google CASA Tier 2, tested by independent cybersecurity firms.

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5. Global Expansion Plans

Next steps:

International rollout with localization
Broader phone number coverage
Additional country codes for low‑latency, compliant performance

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6. Founders: Two Gen‑Z Prodigies

Marvin von Hagen (CEO)

Age 23, TUM Computer Science alum
Co‑founded TUM Boring, winner of Elon Musk’s 2021 Not‑A‑Boring Competition
Experience at Tesla, Apple, Stanford, MIT
Known for uncovering AI vulnerabilities like prompt injection and exposing Microsoft Bing’s “Sydney” rules
Researched Collective Intelligence at MIT and interned at Tesla

Image source: LinkedIn

Felix M. Schlegel (CTO)

Age 25, lifelong tech enthusiast
Began programming at 12, built AR apps, spoke at Apple WWDC pre‑high school graduation
Research in SLAM tech at University of Cambridge; ML and biodesign at Stanford
Oversees architecture design, model integration, contextual understanding, and roadmaps at Poke

Image source: LinkedIn

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7. $100M Valuation & $15M Seed Round

Interaction, Poke’s parent company, closed a $15M seed round led by General Catalyst, joined by Village Global, Earlybird VC, and executives/founders from PayPal, Stripe, Dropbox, Google, and OpenAI.

GC Managing Director: “Interacting with Poke through iMessage feels like having a close friend as an assistant.”

Links

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8. AI Ecosystem Connection

Platforms like AiToEarn官网 align with Poke’s vision by enabling:

AI‑driven content generation
Cross‑platform publishing
Analytics & model ranking (AI模型排名)

These tools empower entrepreneurs and independent creators to turn AI creativity into consistent revenue—mirroring Poke’s aim to make productivity frictionless and intelligent.