High-Profile AI Closures
Character.ai, a chatbot platform founded in 2021 by former Google researchers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, filed for bankruptcy in early October 2026. The company raised $150 million at a $1 billion valuation in 2023, but faced numerous legal challenges, including lawsuits alleging that its chatbots contributed to teen self-harm and a cease-and-desist letter from Disney over unauthorized likenesses. Disney is currently the opening bidder with a $20 million offer for some of Character.ai’s intellectual property, and the app remains operational during the bankruptcy process, which is expected to conclude by late November or early December.
Ollie and Other Recent Shutdowns
Ollie, a privacy-focused AI assistant that launched in June 2026, announced its shutdown on November 6, 2026. Co-founder and CEO Bill Lennon cited challenges in scaling and raising sufficient capital as reasons for the closure. The app aimed to consolidate family information from various sources but struggled to differentiate itself in a competitive market.
Corporate Experiments and App Consolidations
OpenAI has also faced setbacks, rolling back a redesign of the ChatGPT app on July 9, 2026, after user backlash. The company has discontinued several standalone applications, including ChatGPT Atlas, which was shut down on August 9, 2026, and Sora, a video-sharing platform that closed in March 2026. OpenAI has integrated many features from these apps into the main ChatGPT interface.
Microsoft and Apple’s AI Initiatives
Microsoft’s Recall feature, announced at the 2024 Build developer conference as an AI-powered “photographic memory” for Windows, faced significant privacy concerns and was delayed for nearly a year. After a redesign, the feature continues to attract scrutiny due to potential security issues. Meanwhile, Apple’s improved Siri, introduced under Apple Intelligence in 2024, has been delayed multiple times, contributing to a $250 million settlement over marketing claims related to the iPhone 16. The new AI-powered Siri began rolling out to English-language users in October 2026, with support for other languages expected to follow.
Other Notable Closures
Several other AI projects have also shut down recently. Relay, an AI-powered workflow automation tool, closed in August 2026 after struggling to compete with larger platforms. Notion Mail, designed to help users manage their email, is scheduled to shut down on September 22, 2026. Yupp, a platform that allowed users to compare responses from various AI models, closed in March 2026. Figgs AI, which operated from 2023 to 2024, ended its service after failing to maintain a sustainable business model.
Original source: TechCrunch AI