PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Eugenia Kuyda

Eugenia Kuyda is an AI product founder whose work spans Replika’s conversational companion and Wabi’s shared personal agent. She studied journalism, attended London Business School and worked as a journalist before helping organize Bribr, an anti-corruption iPhone app, in 2012. At Luka, she served as co-founder and CEO as its messaging app added task-focused bots; she also coded a chatbot from her late friend Roman’s messages and founded Replika in 2017. In 2018, she and her team released Replika’s underlying code as CakeChat; in 2025, she left Replika’s CEO role to found Wabi. As of October 2026, she is Wabi’s founder, and the company runs a shared AI messenger that can create apps within group threads.

Now at
Wabi
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Timeline

  1. 2012

    Bribr’s anti-corruption app

    She studies journalism, attends London Business School and works as a journalist before moving into technology. In 2012, she organizes a team of about twenty web programmers, developers and activists behind Bribr, an iPhone app for anonymous bribe reports on a map of Russia.

  2. 2014–2016

    IO and Luka’s chatbots

    In 2014, she is IO’s founder and CEO at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe; the conversational app works as a lifestyle and travel concierge. By April 2016, she is Luka’s co-founder and CEO as the messaging app adds bots for restaurant questions, weather, news, images, games and trivia.

  3. 2015

    A chatbot from Roman’s messages

    After her best friend Roman dies in a car accident in 2015, she starts coding a chatbot meant to replace him, using his texts, emails and digital footprint.

  4. 2017

    Founding Replika

    In 2017, she founds Replika as an AI companion app.

  5. 2018

    CakeChat goes open source

    In 2018, she and her team release Replika’s underlying code as CakeChat under an open-source license, allowing developers to build on the app’s AI engine.

  6. 2025

    Leaving Replika to found Wabi

    In early 2025, she steps down as Replika’s CEO to found Wabi.

  7. November 2025

    Wabi raises pre-seed funding

    In November 2025, Wabi raises $20 million in pre-seed funding for a social platform where people use prompts to create and share mini apps.

  8. As of October 2026

    Wabi’s shared AI messenger

    In September 2026, Wabi pivots to AI messaging and keeps prompt-based app creation and task support within the chat. In October 2026, Wabi 2.0 launches as a shared personal AI agent that multiple people use in one thread. As of October 2026, Kuyda is Wabi’s founder.

Career

  1. Since 2025WabiFounder
  2. 2017–2025ReplikaFounder, CEO
  3. From 2016LukaCo-founder and CEO

Education

  1. London Business School

From the biography.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Eugenia Kuyda speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 21 October 2026.

  1. Eugenia Kuyda: Why AI Needs More Than ChatbotsJuan Carlos Llumiquinga · 21 October 2026 · 2 min
  2. “It Saved My Life” | The Early Signals Behind Replika | Eugenia KuydaSubversive · 9 June 2026 · 1 min
  3. How Grief Inspired Replika | Eugenia KuydaSubversive · 8 June 2026 · 1 min
  4. “We Will Have Meaningful Conversations With Machines” | Eugenia KuydaSubversive · 7 June 2026 · 1 min

All 23 videos of Eugenia Kuyda

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public rolesIncludes Eugenia Kuyda. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public roles. Another 97 people moved from public careers into AI organizations or research, with 62% of dated records starting from 2020 on.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  3. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIWe estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  4. 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birthWe estimate that 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birth (520 of 1,198 people with known birth and employment countries).

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Eugenia Kuyda yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. AI Can’t Replace a Therapist, But Millions Use It Like One. Replika’s Founder Answers the Critics mindsitenews.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. In Russia, contro la corruzione si usa il telefonino (e una app) | Globalist globalist.corriere.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Startup Battlefield - Disrupt Europe 2014: London | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Luka, with $4.42 million in Series A, releases AI-powered chat bots | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Talking to Myself | WNYC wnyc.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Replika, the Emotional Chatbot, Goes Open-Source | WIRED wired.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Replika founder raises $20M pre-seed for Wabi, the ‘YouTube of apps’ | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. AI-powered app maker Wabi pivots to a messaging experience | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Replika’s founder built the AI assistant she pitched at Disrupt 12 years ago | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Wabi 2.0 launches as an agent for shared threads · Digg digg.com. Checked 21 October 2026.