AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team
AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team
AI 自动化初创公司 Relay 宣布关闭，团队成员加入谷歌 Chrome 部门
Relay, an AI-powered workflow automation tool that was launched in 2021 with the goal of becoming the new Zapier, is shutting down, and some of its staff — including its top executive — are joining Google’s Chrome team. Relay 是一款于 2021 年推出的 AI 工作流自动化工具，其目标是成为新一代的 Zapier。目前该公司宣布关闭，包括其高管在内的部分员工将加入谷歌的 Chrome 团队。
Jacob Bank, Relay’s founder and CEO, shared a company announcement Monday that reveals the app will be shutting down access for paying customers on September 14. Free customers would have already lost access as of August 15. The app’s closure was initially announced in July. Relay 的创始人兼首席执行官 Jacob Bank 周一发布了一份公司公告，透露该应用将于 9 月 14 日停止向付费用户提供服务。免费用户已于 8 月 15 日失去访问权限。该应用的关闭消息最初于 7 月公布。
Bank, who previously spent a little over six years at Google, revealed that he would now be rejoining the tech giant as VP of Product for Google Chrome, where he will lead the product and developer relations teams for Chrome, according to his LinkedIn. 据其领英（LinkedIn）资料显示，曾在谷歌工作过六年多的 Bank 透露，他将以谷歌 Chrome 产品副总裁的身份重返这家科技巨头，负责领导 Chrome 的产品和开发者关系团队。
“I’ve spent my whole career doing one thing: building tools that help people get more done with AI, without sacrificing their personal creativity or insights,” said Bank in a post on X. “And joining the Chrome team is an ideal opportunity to bring those experiences to many, many more people.” “我的整个职业生涯只做了一件事：构建能够帮助人们利用 AI 完成更多工作的工具，同时不牺牲他们的个人创造力或洞察力，”Bank 在 X 上发文称。“加入 Chrome 团队是一个理想的机会，可以将这些经验带给更多的人。”
“We have some really ambitious plans to help you work with AI in Chrome to get things done, and I’ll have more to share soon,” he added. “我们制定了一些非常宏大的计划，旨在帮助你在 Chrome 中利用 AI 高效完成工作，我很快会分享更多细节，”他补充道。
Bank originally joined Google in 2015 after his previous startup, a scheduling app called Timeful, was acquired by the search giant. At Google, he worked in a number of different areas, including as product lead for Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Chat, before eventually leaving to launch Relay. Bank 最初于 2015 年加入谷歌，当时他之前的初创公司——一款名为 Timeful 的日程安排应用——被这家搜索巨头收购。在谷歌期间，他曾在多个领域工作，包括担任 Gmail、Google 日历和 Google Chat 的产品负责人，随后离职创办了 Relay。
Similar to Timeful, Relay offered users productivity upgrades via workflow automation, allowing businesses to streamline repetitive tasks like document drafting and copyediting, as well as various project management tasks. TechCrunch reached out to Google and to Relay for more information. 与 Timeful 类似，Relay 通过工作流自动化为用户提供生产力升级，使企业能够简化文档起草、文案编辑以及各种项目管理任务等重复性工作。TechCrunch 已联系谷歌和 Relay 以获取更多信息。
Just how Bank and others plan to further integrate AI into Chrome is a hanging question, though Bank calls Chrome “a perfect place to collaborate with agents.” The move follows a steady path of AI integration into Google’s user experience. Bank 和其他人计划如何进一步将 AI 集成到 Chrome 中仍是一个悬而未决的问题，尽管 Bank 将 Chrome 称为“与智能体（agents）协作的完美场所”。此举延续了谷歌将 AI 融入用户体验的既定路径。
The integration of Gemini into search has fundamentally altered Google’s front end — not to mention the rest of the internet. Gemini has also been integrated into Chrome, where it serves as an optional in-browser assistant. Overall, users seem to be responding well to these integrations, as Google recently reported that Gemini had crested 1 billion users. Gemini 在搜索中的集成从根本上改变了谷歌的前端界面，更不用说对整个互联网的影响了。Gemini 也已被集成到 Chrome 中，作为浏览器内的可选助手。总体而言，用户对这些集成的反应似乎不错，谷歌最近报告称 Gemini 的用户数已突破 10 亿。