Mivi, the Hyderabad-based audio brand, is making waves with its foray into AI-powered consumer hardware. Co-founders Midhula Devabhaktuni and Viswanadh Kandula are betting big on personalized AI interactions, believing it's the key to unlocking the next level of user experience. Their vision centers around creating AI that not only responds to commands but also understands, adapts, and connects with users on a human level.
Mivi's approach is a departure from the traditional AI assistant model, which often relies on simple question-and-answer formats. Instead, they are focused on building a conversational AI that feels more like interacting with a friend or helpful assistant. This involves leveraging advanced language models to maintain context, understand emotions, and remember past interactions. The goal is to create a dynamic, human-like exchange rather than rigid, pre-programmed responses.
A cornerstone of Mivi's AI is its focus on personalization. The AI learns from user interactions, remembering preferences, habits, and even emotional tones. This allows it to tailor future interactions, providing relevant answers and suggestions over time. Mivi AI utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand and respond fluently to human language, Emotional Intelligence to detect emotional tones, and Context Awareness to recall past conversations, ensuring discussions remain relevant and cohesive.
The company's co-founders emphasize that every response is curated to be personalized. Mivi AI is trained on thousands of voice samples encompassing a wide range of Indian accents. This ensures the AI can accurately understand and respond to users regardless of their regional dialect or pronunciation. This focus on inclusivity addresses a common problem in the AI space, where many existing assistants struggle to comprehend Indian phonetics and cultural nuances.
Mivi is launching its AI platform with the Mivi AI Buds, truly wireless earbuds that integrate the conversational AI. Activated by a simple voice command ("Hi Mivi"), these earbuds allow for hands-free, on-the-go interactions. The AI Buds are designed to seamlessly integrate into daily life, enhancing productivity and well-being. The Mivi AI app stores conversations and builds a user profile based on preferences, allowing the AI to tailor future interactions. The AI can also seamlessly return to previous topics, even if the user switches subjects mid-conversation. Furthermore, the AIBuds incorporate "Avatars," virtual experts in specific domains that personalize suggestions as they learn user habits.
Looking ahead, Mivi envisions its AI platform extending beyond earbuds to a wide range of consumer electronics, including wearables, speakers, home monitoring cameras, and other IoT devices. The co-founders believe that focusing on consumer applications, rather than business uses, is key to making AI a truly integrated and valuable part of people's lives. Mivi has invested $5 million in developing the AI-enabled earbuds, with an estimated total of $10-11 million, including marketing. The company forecasts sales of 5 million units in the first year.
The co-founders believe that Mivi's approach to AI is radically different because the focus is on natural conversations rather than the usual command-response format of interactions. Mivi AI has been designed with three foundational principles, such as context awareness, emotional intelligence, and memory continuity. According to Mivi, this AI prioritizes dynamic, human-like exchanges over rigid responses by processing complex language, recognizing context, understanding emotions, and adapting to various situations.
