Generative AI — is there anything it won’t do? Well, truthfully, most of the time you’re not going to be able to convince it to share its innermost fantasies with you. Try it with ChatGPT, for example, and the computer just says “no”:
Yeah, that’s a “no” from me, dawg. Image Credits: ChatGPT screenshot.
That sort of puritan silliness is the sort of thing that Swedish startup Pirr just wouldn’t stand for. The company has released an app trained on an enormous library of smut, and is eager to help you fantasize alongside an AI. You write the first paragraph, and the AI takes it from there. After a couple of paragraphs, you either choose what happens next, choose-your-own-adventure style or you can write the next part of the story yourself, before letting the AI step back in. It’s also possible to collaborate on stories with the broader community.
It seems to have caught on; the company claims it has more than 150,000 users, spending on average 22 minutes in a single session with the sexy romance novella co-writer.
Pirr, which means a “state of excitement” in Swedish, enables users to generate their own narratives with the help of AI. The startup’s mission is to break the stigma around the genre, which despite being among the largest and most lucrative in literature, often remains unspoken about.
I spoke with the company’s co-founders, CEO Anna Wallander and COO Beatrice Bushati, to learn more about what the company is building, how it’s building it and why we all need a bit more pirr in our lives.
“We are female-founded, we have a female perspective, but the app is for everyone,” says Wallander. “We want to create a playground for fantasies. We want people to have fun and to fantasize because we also believe in what that could do with people.”
Pirr’s Anna Wallander (CEO) and Beatrice Bushati (COO). Image Credits: Pirr.
The company raised a $430,000 angel round, which it says included participation from angel investors across Silicon Valley, New York and London, and will be used to transition Pirr from an MVP to a full-fledged product. The company also plans to start monetization tests toward the end of the year, with a potential leaning toward a subscription-based model.
“We have a big interest in both creating and reading stories, reading other people’s stories and co-creating with others. We have a big potential there,” says Wallander.
With the new funding, Pirr aims to become the world’s largest platform for spicy stories. The company plans to introduce new features, including AI-generated book covers and text narration. They also see potential in co-creation, allowing users to create stories together, which it says could serve as an alternative to sexting or a way to add spice to a relationship.
Pirr’s platform is available on both Google Play and the App Store, as well as online, on Pirr.me.