AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team
"We have some really ambitious plans to help you work with AI in Chrome to get things done, and I’ll have more to share soon," Jacob Bank, Relay founder and CEO, said.
AI automation startup Relay, which aimed to become the new Zapier, is shutting down operations and laying off its staff. The company, founded by Jacob Bank, announced that access for paying customers would be halted on September 14, while free users lost access as of August 15. Bank, who previously spent six years at Google, will now return to the tech giant as the VP of Product for Google Chrome, leading the product and developer relations teams for Chrome.
Bank explained that his goal is to bring his experiences in building AI-powered tools to many people through this new role. He emphasized that joining the Chrome team offers an ideal opportunity to help more people work with AI in Google's browser, focusing on streamlining repetitive tasks and project management. Relay's workforce will now be joining Google's Chrome team, where they will contribute to the development and integration of AI features within the browser.
The company's closure comes as Google continues to integrate AI more deeply into its user experience, with Gemini being integrated into search and Chrome. Users have shown positive response to these integrations, with Google recently reporting that Gemini had surpassed 1 billion users.
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