Why Cognition bought Poke: AI personality is becoming a competitive advantage

AI coding startup Cognition has acquired Poke, the AI assistant you text like a friend, in a deal valuing the startup in the low nine figures. The acquisition brings Poke’s conversational style and interaction model to Cognition’s coding agent Devin, reflecting a growing belief that how AI assistants interact with users is as important as the models powering them.

Technology shifts change how people work, communicate, and build — often faster than policy can follow.

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