text.ai: AI agent in SMS group chats via RCS — restaurant recs, scheduling, and collaborative Ghibli images
Jun 11, 2025
Key Points
- text.ai embeds an AI agent directly into SMS and RCS group chats to handle scheduling, restaurant recommendations, and collaborative image generation without requiring users to leave their messaging app.
- The startup sidesteps Apple's closed ecosystem by operating as a carrier service through Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, positioning SMS infrastructure as surprisingly durable despite historical skepticism around telecom APIs.
- text.ai's go-to-market strategy relies on network effects and viral hooks like collaborative image editing, while the founders emphasize user control and no data sales to address privacy concerns around third-party access to group conversations.
Summary
text.ai is building an AI agent that lives in SMS and RCS group chats. Users add a phone number to any conversation and the agent handles scheduling, restaurant recommendations, reminders, and collaborative image generation. The image tool lets multiple group members iteratively refine images in a Ghibli-style editor without copy-pasting.
The company operates as a carrier-based service through Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, which lets it sidestep Apple's walled garden. It is working through RCS providers to access RCS infrastructure even as the standard remains in beta. The founders say SMS infrastructure is surprisingly robust, though they acknowledge historical skepticism around telecom APIs.
Distribution
The go-to-market relies on network effects. Once someone adds text.ai to a group chat, other members see it and add it to their own conversations. Collaborative image generation acts as a virality hook similar to how Midjourney spread through Discord, where group members can remix and edit images in-thread.
Privacy and control
Users can add or remove the agent at will, and the company does not sell group chat data. The founders contrast this approach with ambient AI assistants that remain permanently in conversations. This positioning addresses privacy concerns around introducing a third party into sensitive group communications.
Emergent behavior
One unexpected use case emerged organically: people using text.ai to vet dates. A user added the agent to a chat with a potential romantic interest, framed it as a "digital staff," and asked for restaurant recommendations and restrictions. The founders describe this as consumers being "thoughtful about how do you bring it in to make it more easy for us to have a human connection." The product's value extends beyond functional automation to social facilitation.
Team
One founder spent four years at Tesla leading the supercharging and subscription teams. Another led engineering at Walmart, with earlier roles at Eventbrite and OpenTable focused on consumer personalization. The third co-founder recently exited a B2B media company and has known the other founders for eight years. All three are in the current YC batch.