Medal – the AI company behind the popular MedalTV clipping app – launched Highlight, its groundbreaking AI assistant platform designed to alter how users interact with popular AI models. And Medal also announced a $13 million funding round from Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, peak6, and Arcadia Investments, valuing the company at $333 million post-money.
Launched by the team that created MedalTV, which boasts over 1 million daily active users, Highlight is positioning itself as the next evolution in operating systems. And the company’s new platform – described as a capture-based interface and runtime for assistants – aims to make AI accessible to billions of users by eliminating the need for complex prompting.
The key features of Highlight’s platform include:
— Seamless integration with macOS and Windows
— Ability to publish web apps as natively running assistants in under a minute
— Contextual capture technology for enhanced AI interactions
— And cross-platform desktop app development
The company’s team includes Medal co-founders Pim de Witte and Josh Lipson and other top industry talent. And with its latest funding, Highlight plans to accelerate development and expand its user base, aiming to become the fastest-growing AI assistant on the desktop within a year.
Highlight’s approach to AI accessibility and its strong foundation in the consumer space position it as a potential game-changer in the evolving landscape of human-computer interaction. And Highlight is built on Medal’s industry-leading screen capture and process detection layer technology, which is currently used by over 4 million gamers per month.
Available on Windows and Mac, Highlight continuously captures (but doesn’t store) what is on a computer screen locally and allows individuals to choose from various AI apps including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and others to meet specific needs, becoming a native AI assistant on the desktop, while prioritizing user privacy through opt-in requirements.
Along with this launch, Highlight is rolling out its own custom-built, open APIs that provide AI solutions for a variety of tasks, including meeting transcriptions and the identification of action items in all of a user’s online interactions. And additional custom Highlight apps will be launched in the near future.
Since Highlight is platform agnostic, it democratizes the AI model landscape and encourages consumers to use more than just ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot — which helps promote market competition. And through Highlight’s APIs, developers can build context-aware assistants and create custom models that learn, offering a less-monopolizing approach than current competitors.
Highlight operates on a local model and if the parameters are small enough, they run on an individual’s device without touching the internet and protects user data. And Highlight also gives users and developers maximum control of their data, enabling them to choose where to send it. Nothing leaves a user’s screen unless they grant permission.
KEY QUOTE:
“Capture is the next OS. We’re removing barriers between users and AI, making it as simple as clicking a button or asking a question. Our vision is to become the routing layer for all tasks on the OS, connecting users with assistants, models, interfaces, and even other people.”
– Pim de Witte, CEO and co-founder of Highlight
