The AI graveyard: a running list of projects and startups that didn’t make it

AI 坟场：那些未能存活的项目与初创公司名单

Relay, an AI-powered workflow automation tool built as an alternative to Zapier, shut down entirely on Monday. The product let users automate email and task workflows using AI agents, but as OpenAI, Google, and other larger platforms built similar automation directly into their own tools, five-year-old Relay struggled to hold on to a reason to exist as a stand-alone product.

作为 Zapier 的替代品，AI 工作流自动化工具 Relay 已于周一彻底关闭。该产品曾允许用户利用 AI 智能体自动化处理电子邮件和任务工作流。然而，随着 OpenAI、Google 等大型平台将类似的自动化功能直接集成到自家工具中，这家成立五年的公司难以维持其作为独立产品的存在价值。

Relay — a startup outpaced by bigger platforms — is one version of the story playing out right now. But plenty of AI bets never even survive inside the companies that build them. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, about 42% of AI initiatives are ultimately abandoned by their corporate parents. The reasons vary: insufficient funding, technical challenges, competition, difficulty scaling, or just weak user demand. The result is a growing AI graveyard.

Relay 只是当前行业现状的一个缩影——一家被大型平台超越的初创公司。事实上，许多 AI 项目甚至还没能从母公司内部存活下来。根据标普全球市场情报（S&P Global Market Intelligence）的数据，约 42% 的 AI 计划最终被其母公司放弃。原因多种多样：资金不足、技术挑战、竞争压力、扩展困难，或是单纯的用户需求疲软。结果便是不断扩大的“AI 坟场”。

Below is a look at some of the most notable AI products, startups, launches, and bets that have shut down, pivoted, or significantly missed expectations. Think of it less as a scorecard of flops than as a record of what these attempts can (hopefully) teach the rest of the industry.

以下盘点了一些最引人注目的 AI 产品、初创公司、发布项目及战略押注，它们有的已经关闭，有的进行了转型，有的则严重未达预期。与其说这是一份失败清单，不如说是一份记录，希望能为行业提供一些经验教训。

OpenAI has taken several stumbles

OpenAI 也曾多次跌倒

Even the biggest players aren’t immune. OpenAI, one of the most valuable private companies in the world, has had its own share of casualties and missteps. One of the more recent examples was its attempt to turn ChatGPT into a broader “super app.” On July 9, OpenAI updated the app to combine several experiences, including separate “Chat,” “Codex,” and “Work” modes, while renaming the traditional, familiar version “ChatGPT Classic.” The redesign quickly drew criticism from users who found the new interface confusing and cluttered, and OpenAI rolled back the change soon after, bringing the familiar ChatGPT interface back.

即便是行业巨头也无法幸免。作为全球最有价值的私营公司之一，OpenAI 也有自己的“伤亡”和失误。最近的一个例子是它试图将 ChatGPT 打造成一个更广泛的“超级应用”。7 月 9 日，OpenAI 更新了该应用，整合了包括“Chat”、“Codex”和“Work”在内的多种模式，并将传统版本更名为“ChatGPT Classic”。这次改版迅速招致用户批评，他们认为新界面混乱且难以使用，OpenAI 随后不久便撤回了更改，恢复了熟悉的 ChatGPT 界面。

That wasn’t OpenAI’s only attempt to pull everything under one roof. The company has also shut down several stand-alone apps and folded their features directly into ChatGPT — a strategy that’s worked out better than the redesign did. ChatGPT Atlas, a stand-alone AI-powered web browser, lasted less than a year before being discontinued on August 9, with its most useful features absorbed into ChatGPT. The company did the same thing with Operator, an AI agent, and OpenAI has increasingly built image generation directly into ChatGPT, shrinking the role of DALL-E as its own separate destination for creating images. We also can’t forget its video-sharing platform, Sora, which struggled with high operating costs and user-retention challenges and shut down in March 2026.

这并非 OpenAI 唯一一次尝试将所有功能整合到一起。该公司还关闭了多个独立应用，并将其功能直接并入 ChatGPT——这一策略比之前的改版要成功得多。独立的 AI 网页浏览器 ChatGPT Atlas 在上线不到一年后，于 8 月 9 日被停用，其最实用的功能被整合进 ChatGPT。公司对 AI 智能体 Operator 也采取了同样做法。此外，OpenAI 正越来越多地将图像生成功能直接内置于 ChatGPT 中，从而削弱了 DALL-E 作为独立图像创作平台的地位。我们也不能忘记其视频分享平台 Sora，它因高昂的运营成本和用户留存挑战，最终于 2026 年 3 月关闭。

Apple’s Siri AI

苹果的 Siri AI

When Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence in 2024, an improved Siri was one of the highlighted features. The pitch promised a Siri that could understand context, know what was happening across apps, and get tasks done effectively. However, Apple repeatedly pushed back the release of the new Siri, citing various reasons like engineering issues and bugs. This delay eventually contributed to a $250 million settlement over claims regarding how Apple marketed the AI capabilities of the iPhone 16. Siri AI finally appeared in the iOS 27 beta this past July, with the new AI-powered version rolling out to English-language users first this month; support for other languages is expected to follow.

当苹果在 2024 年发布 Apple Intelligence 时，升级版 Siri 是其核心亮点之一。苹果承诺 Siri 将具备理解上下文、跨应用感知以及高效完成任务的能力。然而，由于工程问题和漏洞等原因，苹果多次推迟了新 Siri 的发布。这次延期最终导致苹果因 iPhone 16 的 AI 功能营销问题，支付了 2.5 亿美元的和解金。Siri AI 终于在今年 7 月的 iOS 27 测试版中亮相，本月开始率先向英语用户推送，预计后续将支持更多语言。

Microsoft’s Recall

微软的 Recall

Announced at its 2024 Build developer conference, Microsoft’s Recall feature was pitched as an AI-powered “photographic memory” for Windows PCs, periodically taking screenshots of what a user was doing so they could later search back through their own digital history. Predictably, the announcement triggered an immediate backlash over privacy and security. Critics argued that Recall could create a searchable archive of highly sensitive information, including passwords, private messages, financial details, and other activity. Microsoft delayed the feature for nearly a year, giving the company time to rethink its security and privacy protections. Even after a redesign, the controversy hasn’t gone away. A cybersecurity researcher recently built a tool that could extract and display data that Recall had captured, reviving questions about whether Microsoft has actually fixed the underlying problem.

在 2024 年 Build 开发者大会上发布的微软 Recall 功能，被宣传为 Windows PC 的 AI“摄影记忆”。它会定期截取用户操作的屏幕画面，以便用户日后搜索自己的数字历史。不出所料，这一公告立即引发了关于隐私和安全的强烈抵制。批评者认为，Recall 可能会建立一个包含密码、私人信息、财务细节等高度敏感信息的可搜索档案。微软将该功能推迟了近一年，以便重新审视其安全和隐私保护措施。即便经过重新设计，争议依然存在。最近，一名网络安全研究员开发出一种工具，可以提取并显示 Recall 捕获的数据，这再次引发了人们对微软是否真正解决了根本问题的质疑。

Notion Mail

Notion Mail launched in April 2025 as an AI-focused email product designed to help users organize and automate their inboxes. However, the company noticed its users were using separate AI agents to handle their email inboxes instead. As a result, Notion Mail is scheduled to shut down on September 22.

Notion Mail 于 2025 年 4 月推出，是一款专注于 AI 的电子邮件产品，旨在帮助用户整理和自动化收件箱。然而，公司发现用户更倾向于使用独立的 AI 智能体来处理邮件。因此，Notion Mail 计划于 9 月 22 日关闭。

Humane AI Pin

The Humane AI Pin is probably one of the most well-known failures in AI hardware. Designed to provide AI features through a wearable device rather than a traditional smartphone, Humane raised $230 million from investors and garnered significant attention. But the product struggled mightily with performance, and the situation worsened when Humane warned customers to stop using its charging case because of a potential battery fire risk. Humane then shut down its AI Pin business in February 2025, with most of the company’s assets acquired by HP for $1.16 billion.

Humane AI Pin 可能是 AI 硬件领域最著名的失败案例之一。它旨在通过可穿戴设备而非传统智能手机提供 AI 功能，Humane 因此筹集了 2.3 亿美元并获得了广泛关注。但该产品在性能上表现极其挣扎，当 Humane 因潜在的电池起火风险警告客户停止使用其充电盒时，情况进一步恶化。Humane 随后于 2025 年 2 月关闭了 AI Pin 业务，公司大部分资产被惠普（HP）以 11.6 亿美元收购。

Rabbit R1

The Rabbit R1 was another heavily hyped AI device. Unveiled at CES in January 2024, the AI companion was designed to perform tasks on behalf of its owner. Rabbit said it had sold 100,000 units shortly after launch. However, strong initial sales didn’t mean it was a strong product. Early reviews described the device as unfinished, with unreliable performance and a limited number of useful integrations. The company hasn’t given up, though. It has continued updating the R1, positioning it as a computer controller capable of performing agentic tasks. It also recently announced a new hardware project, dubbed “Project Cyberdeck,” aimed at creating a portable device.

Rabbit R1 是另一款被过度炒作的 AI 设备。它在 2024 年 1 月的 CES 上亮相，这款 AI 伴侣旨在代表用户执行任务。Rabbit 声称在发布后不久就售出了 10 万台。然而，强劲的初期销量并不代表产品本身出色。早期评论称该设备尚未完成，性能不稳定，且有用的集成功能有限。不过，该公司并未放弃。它持续更新 R1，将其定位为能够执行智能体任务的计算机控制器。最近，它还宣布了一个名为“Project Cyberdeck”的新硬件项目，旨在打造一款便携式设备。