Running list catalogs AI projects and startups that shut down or missed expectations

A TechCrunch AI compilation catalogs AI projects and startups that shut down, pivoted, or significantly missed expectations, framing the effort as a record of lessons for the industry rather than a scorecard of flops.

Relay, an AI-powered workflow automation tool positioned as an alternative to Zapier, shut down entirely in August after five years. The product let users automate email and task workflows using AI agents, but the company said larger platforms integrating similar automation features reduced Relay’s standalone value.

Character.ai, a chatbot platform, filed for bankruptcy five years after launching, adding to the tally of AI startups that failed to achieve sustainable traction.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, about 42% of AI initiatives are ultimately abandoned by their corporate parents, with reasons ranging from insufficient funding and technical challenges to competition, scaling difficulties, and weak user demand.

OpenAI, despite its scale, has also shuttered or folded multiple products. The company discontinued ChatGPT Atlas, a standalone AI-powered web browser, less than a year after launch, absorbing its features into ChatGPT. OpenAI also ended Operator, an AI agent for web browsing and task completion, and has increasingly integrated image generation into ChatGPT, reducing the standalone role of DALL-E.

OpenAI’s attempt to turn ChatGPT into a broader 'super app' in July drew criticism for a confusing and cluttered interface, prompting a rollback within days. The redesign bundled 'Chat,' 'Codex,' and 'Work' modes under one roof and renamed the traditional interface 'ChatGPT Classic,' but users found it unwieldy and OpenAI reverted the change.

Apple’s Siri AI faced repeated delays after Apple Intelligence was unveiled in 2024, with engineering issues and bugs cited. The delays contributed to a $250 million settlement over claims about how Apple marketed AI capabilities for the iPhone 16; a new Siri AI finally rolled out to English-language users in iOS 27 this month.

Microsoft’s Recall, announced at Build 2024 as an AI-powered 'photographic memory' for Windows PCs, triggered immediate backlash over privacy and security. After nearly a year of delays and redesigns, controversy persisted when a researcher demonstrated a tool to extract data captured by Recall, reviving concerns about the feature’s security posture.

Notion Mail, launched in April 2025 as an AI-focused email product, is scheduled to shut down on September 22 after the company observed users preferring separate AI agents for inbox management.

Humane’s AI Pin, a wearable AI device that raised $230 million, shut down its AI Pin business in February 2025 following performance issues and a battery fire risk warning; most assets were acquired by HP for $116 million.

Rabbit’s R1, an AI companion device unveiled at CES 2024, sold 100,000 units but faced criticism for unfinished software and limited integrations. The company continues to iterate, repositioning the device as a computer controller for agentic tasks and announcing a new hardware project, 'Project Cyberdeck.'

Huxe, an AI audio app from former Google NotebookLM developers, shut down in May 2026 as larger platforms expanded AI-powered audio experiences to broader audiences.