14-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
The Future of Interaction: Embodied CEO Paolo Pirjanian on AI Companions for Children's Emotional Growth
Paolo Pirjanian, a lifelong roboticist and founder and CEO of Embodied Inc., talks about the company's mission to create AI-driven companion robots, embodied by their flagship product, Moxie. Moxie is a physical, interactive character that helps children, especially those on the autism spectrum or with social-emotional challenges, develop life skills.
Pirjanian, who had a childhood dream of creating an AI friend, says Moxie is a 'safe zone' with 'training wheels' for kids to practice interpreting emotional cues and social interactions so they can succeed in real world relationships.
Moxie stands out from voice-only AI assistants with its physical embodiment – 15-16 inches tall, with a face, arms and body language and varied vocal tones to convey emotions like sadness or excitement. It can also deduce a child's emotional state by constant analysis.
Embodied Inc. was founded in 2016 and has grown to 60 people. The company has raised around $80 million from top investors including Intel, Amazon and Sony and institutional VCs.
Pirjanian says AI is advancing rapidly and current capabilities will be 10x better in a year. He also shares that his career path was changed by his first computer manual and he went from medicine to programming and robotics. His advice to entrepreneurs that building a company can be hard but also super fulfilling and to not let your ego get in the way.
