Cognition buys Poke for up to $100 million to make its AI coding assistant friendlier
The startup behind Devin, an AI that writes and fixes code, has acquired a chat app known for feeling more like a conversation than a command line. The bet: personality sells.
Key points
- Cognition, the startup behind AI coding agent Devin, acquired Poke in a deal valued in the low nine figures (think somewhere under $100 million).
- Poke is an AI assistant designed to feel like texting a friend rather than typing commands into a search box.
- The acquisition signals that how an AI talks to you is becoming just as important as the underlying technology making it work.
- No price for Devin changes yet, but the deal suggests a product update is coming.
Cognition, the startup that built Devin, an AI coding agent (software that can read, write, and debug code on its own), has bought Poke, a conversational AI assistant designed to feel like texting your mate rather than filling out a form. TechCrunch AI first reported the deal, which values Poke in the low nine figures.
If that sounds like a lot for a chat app, here is the logic.
What does Poke actually do?
Poke strips away the formal, robotic tone most AI tools default to and replaces it with something closer to a group chat. You ask it things the way you would ask a friend, and it answers the same way. No stiff phrasing, no menus.
Most people who have tried a chatbot have felt that slight awkwardness, the sense that you need to phrase things just right or the tool gets confused. Poke was built to remove that friction.
Why would a coding company care about chat style?
Devin is already one of the more capable AI coding agents on the market. It can plan a project, write the code, spot its own mistakes, and fix them. The technical side is strong. What Cognition is betting on now is that the feel of using a tool matters just as much as what it can do.
Think of it this way. Two plumbers might be equally skilled, but you keep calling the one who actually explains what went wrong in plain English. Cognition wants Devin to be that plumber.
The acquisition brings Poke's interaction model directly into Devin's development. Exactly when or how the changes will appear in the product has not been announced.
What does this mean for you?
If you use Devin, or any AI coding tool, expect the broader industry to push harder on tone and personality over the next year. This deal is a signal, not just a product update. Big labs and well-funded startups are watching how users actually feel during a session, not just whether the output is correct.
For anyone trying AI assistants for the first time, this is actually good news. Tools are getting easier to talk to.
| Acquirer | Cognition (makers of Devin) |
| Acquired | Poke |
| Deal value | Low nine figures |
| Devin's role | AI coding agent |
| Poke's role | Conversational AI assistant |
Privacy note worth knowing: when two AI companies merge their products, your chat data from one may eventually feed into the other's systems. Worth checking Cognition's updated privacy policy once any product integration goes live.
