Dot (New Computer)
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Dot was an AI companion app built by the startup New Computer, founded by former Apple designer Jason Yuan and engineer Sam Whitmore. Launched on iOS in June 2024, Dot was pitched as an AI friend and confidante that learned the user's preferences over time, offered advice, empathy, and emotional support, and wrote a kind of living diary through a feature called Chronicles. It mixed multiple AI models and offered a paid plan around $12 a month, raising $3.7 million from backers including the OpenAI Fund, Lachy Groom, and South Park Commons.
02 / Dot (New Computer) FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
On September 5, 2025, New Computer announced it would wind down Dot, with the service ending October 5, 2025. The founders said their visions for the product's direction had diverged into different 'Northstars' and they chose to close rather than compromise. The app also never found scale: third-party estimates put lifetime iOS downloads at roughly 24,500, no Android version ever shipped, and the AI companion category faced mounting scrutiny over psychological safety.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product or service closed
New Computer (Sam Whitmore / Jason Yuan) announced the personalized AI companion Dot is shutting down, remaining up only until 5 Oct 2025 while users export data, and said the co-founders would wind down operations rather than compromise diverging visions.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
New Computer announced on September 5, 2025 that it would wind down Dot; the service remained online until October 5, 2025.
- 02
Users were given a window to export their data via the app's settings; new subscriptions were disabled.
- 03
No asset sale, acquisition, or creditor arrangement was publicly disclosed.