Relay is a workflow automation tool driven by AI, positioned as a substitute for Zapier, but it was completely discontinued in August. This product allowed users to automatically process emails and task flows with the help of AI proxy. However, as OpenAI, Google, and other larger platforms have integrated similar automation functions directly into their own tools, this five-year-old Relay has increasingly found it difficult to justify its existence as an independent product.

More recently, the chatbot platform Character.ai applied for bankruptcy just five years after its launch.

Apart from Character.ai and Relay, there are also many AI bets that failed to even survive within the companies that developed them. According to data from S& P Global Market Intelligence, approximately 42% of AI projects are ultimately abandoned by their parent companies. The reasons vary: insufficient funding, technical challenges, competition, difficulties in expansion, or simply weak user demand.

As a result, a continuously expanding AI “graveyard” is forming. Below are some of the most notable AI products, startups, releases, and bets that have either been shut down, shifted direction, or clearly failed to meet expectations. Rather than viewing this list as a scoreboard of failures, it would be more appropriate to consider it as a record of what lessons these attempts can teach the entire industry.

OpenAI has also made a few mistakes.

Even the biggest players are not spared. As one of the world's most valuable private companies, OpenAI has also experienced its own “defeats” and mistakes. A recent example is its attempt to transform ChatGPT into a more general-purpose “super app.” On July 9th, OpenAI updated this app, integrating multiple experiences into one, including the independent “Chat,” “Codex,” and “Work” modes, and renamed the traditional, familiar version as “ChatGPT Classic.”

This redesign quickly faced criticism from users, with many finding the new interface confusing and disorganized. OpenAI soon retracted this change, restoring the familiar ChatGPT interface.

This was not the only time that OpenAI attempted to bring all its functions under one umbrella. The company also shut down several independent applications and directly integrated their functions into ChatGPT – and the effect of this strategy was clearly better than that previous redesign of the user interface. ChatGPT Atlas was an independent AI web browser that did not last more than a year before being discontinued; services were ceased on August 9th, and its most useful functions have since been incorporated into ChatGPT.

The company did the same thing with Operator. Operator is a AI proxy that can browse web pages and complete tasks on behalf of users; at the same time, OpenAI is increasingly integrating image generation directly into ChatGPT, reducing the role of DALL-E as an independent entry point for image creation.

Don't forget its video sharing platform Sora. This platform faced difficulties due to high operating costs and user retention issues, and it was shut down in March 2026.

Apple's Siri AI

When Apple releases Apple Intelligence in 2024, the improved version Siri will be one of the key features. Its promotional promise is a Siri that can understand context, know what is happening between applications, and complete tasks efficiently.

However, Apple has postponed the release of the new version of Siri multiple times due to various reasons such as engineering issues and vulnerabilities. In the end, this delay led to a $250 million settlement agreement surrounding how Apple advertised the capabilities of iPhone and AI.

Siri AI finally appeared in the iOS beta version in July of this year, and this new AI version has been launched for English-speaking users first this month; it is expected that support for other languages will follow later on.

Microsoft's Recall

When Microsoft announced the Recall feature at its Build Developer Conference in 2024, it described it as a kind of "photographic memory" on Windows PC. It would periodically take screenshots of what users were doing, making it convenient to look back at one's digital history later on.

It is foreseeable that this announcement immediately triggered a strong backlash regarding privacy and security. Critics argue that Recall could create a searchable archive of highly sensitive information, which includes passwords, private messages, financial details, and other activities. As a result, Microsoft postponed this feature for nearly a year in order to re-evaluate its security and privacy protection measures.

Even after a redesign, the controversy did not disappear. Recently, a cybersecurity researcher developed a tool that can extract and display the data captured by Recall, once again raising doubts among outsiders about whether Microsoft has truly fixed the fundamental issues.

Notion Mail

Notion Mail was launched in April 2025 and is an email product centered around AI, aimed at helping users organize and automate their inboxes. However, the company noticed that users were actually using a separate AI proxy to manage their emails. As a result, Notion Mail is scheduled to be discontinued on September 22nd.

Humane AI Pin

Humane AI Pin is probably one of the most well-known failure cases in the hardware field of AI. This product was intended to provide AI functions through wearable devices rather than traditional smartphones. Humane raised 230 million dollars from investors and received a great deal of attention.

However, this product performed poorly in terms of performance, and the situation further deteriorated when Humane warned customers to stop using its charging dock due to the potential risk of battery fires. Subsequently, Humane ceased operations for AI Pin in February 2025, and most of its assets were acquired by HP for $116 million.

Rabbit R1

Rabbit R1 is another device of AI that has been heavily hyped. This AI companion made its debut on CES in January 2024, with the design goal of carrying out tasks on behalf of its owner. It is said that within a short time after the product was released, 100,000 units were sold.

However, strong initial sales do not necessarily mean that it is a mature product. Early reviews stated that the device was not yet complete, with unstable performance and limited usability due to limited integration options.

But the company did not give up. It continued to update R1 and positioned it as a computer controller capable of performing proxy tasks. The company also recently announced a new hardware project, codenamed “Project Cyberdeck”, with the goal of creating a portable device designed specifically for vibe-coding.

Huxe

Huxe is a AI audio application, created by former developers of Google's NotebookLM. It is capable of converting written information into conversational, podcast-style audio.

The company closed in May 2026, partly because larger platforms began to offer similar experiences to their vast existing audiences. For example, Spotify has been continuously expanding its AI audio tools.

Yupp

Yupp is a rather interesting AI product: it serves as a free testing ground that allows users to compare the responses of hundreds of AI models side by side. Users can also vote on these responses and earn cryptocurrency through this platform.

During peak times, the platform allowed users to test over 800 models, including those from companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. However, according to its founder, Yupp never achieved a strong enough fit with the product market and was unable to continue operating. The platform was shut down in March 2026.

Figgs AI

Figgs AI operated between 2023 and 2024, allowing users to create and interact with customizable AI characters for role-playing and storytelling purposes. It is reported that the platform attracted over 1 million users, but its developers stated that the cost of maintaining a free service was too high to sustain, hence they decided to shut down the platform.