Read AI launches a email based ‘digital twin’ to help you with schedules and answers

In a groundbreaking announcement, Read AI has unveiled Ada, an innovative AI-driven email assistant designed to streamline your scheduling and information retrieval tasks. Dubbed a 'digital twin,' Ada operates around the clock, managing your calendar, answering queries based on company insights, and responding to out-of-office messages. Users can easily set up Ada by emailing 'ada@read.ai' with the message 'Get me started.' Once configured, Ada proactively engages in meeting scheduling, replying to participants with your availability, and suggesting alternative times if conflicts arise. Notably, while Ada accesses your calendar, it maintains confidentiality regarding the specifics of your meetings. In addition to scheduling, Ada can efficiently respond to questions using a company's knowledge base, prior meeting discussions, and general internet searches. For example, users can inquire about Q1 goals, and Ada will provide relevant updates. If a colleague poses a question in an email thread, Ada prepares a draft response for user refinement before sending. Justin Farris, Read AI’s VP of Product, emphasized that Ada operates independently of Model Context Protocols (MCPs), leveraging a knowledge graph built from meeting data and integrated services. This approach allows Ada to offer contextual responses and, over time, take proactive steps on your behalf. For instance, if a follow-up is mentioned during a meeting, Ada will remind you to address it afterward using pertinent details. CEO David Shim articulated the vision behind Ada: akin to training a new employee, the assistant learns and adapts as it integrates into your workflow, handling more tasks as more services are connected. Currently, Ada operates via email, with plans for future integration into platforms like Slack and Teams. At the recent Web Summit in Qatar, Shim revealed that Read AI boasts over 5 million monthly active users, with ambitions to double that figure. The company sees a remarkable daily influx of 50,000 new sign-ups, along with a broader audience of 100,000 users engaging with Read AI’s content, such as meeting summaries, without requiring an account. The U.S. remains Read AI's largest market, but international growth is strong, with 60% of users residing outside the country. With over $81 million raised in funding, the company continues to enhance its suite of AI tools, having recently launched features like Search Copilot for knowledge discovery and updates to customer service software. As the landscape of meeting notetaking evolves, competitors are also innovating. Granola, for instance, introduced 'recipes' that utilize repeatable prompts to extract insights from meeting notes, while Quill, which recently secured $6.5 million in funding, aims to automate tasks by connecting with various tools such as Linear and Notion.