Jay Graber, Bluesky’s former CEO who recently moved to chief innovation officer, has only been in her new role for one month. However, her tenure has already produced a big release: Attie, a proxy app designed to help users customize their social media feeds and algorithms. Attie reflects many of the priorities Graber emphasized during her time leading Bluesky. It emphasizes personalization and puts generative AI in the hands of users rather than companies. The app was unveiled on March 28, and is currently in beta testing.
Currently, most major social platforms use AI to increase user time spent, collect training data and develop opaque algorithms, said Graber, who noted that such companies should instead fix problems caused by the technology, such as floods of AI-generated content. “We believe that AI should serve people, not platforms.”
Built on the decentralized Bluesky protocol, Attie allows users to create their own custom social media feeds simply by typing requests. Examples on Attie’s website include: “Show me electronic music and experimental sound from people in my network” or “Posts on folklore, mythology and traditional music; especially Celtic traditions.” Queries can be written in natural language rather than code, Graber said, noting that the rapid development of agent tools has made it “increasingly possible to customize software without any programming experience at all.”
Attie is the first product developed by Bluesky’s Exploration Team, a dedicated unit led by Graber in her new role. She previously served as CEO for more than four years, having been appointed in 2021 by Jack Dorsey — then CEO of Twitter (now X) — to lead the company, which Twitter incubated before it spun off as an independent entity.
Graber, who has also worked at blockchain company SkuChain, cryptocurrency project Zcash, and founded events app Happening, framed her move from CEO as a return to her passion for “building new things.” Tony Schneider, former Automattic CEO and partner at True Ventures, has taken over as interim CEO while Bluesky’s board searches for a permanent successor.
“I think she realized there was a lot she wanted to build, and just doing the CEO job kept her busy“Since refocusing on products, “it’s become clear that this is her happy place,” Schneider told TechCrunch of Graber’s internal pivot in a recent interview. “It’s become clear that this is her happy place,” added Schneider, who described Attie as a people-focused AI product that will ensure the technology benefits everyone.
Shortly after the executive shake-up, Bluesky revealed that it had raised $100 million in a Series B funding round in April last year. This investment gives the company at least three years of financial runway, Schneider said.
It’s still unclear whether Bluesky will eventually charge Attie or keep him free. The platform is exploring several subscription and marketplace models but remains committed to remaining ad-free. With 43 million users — many of whom joined after Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter — Bluesky has positioned itself as a “billionaire-proof” alternative to mainstream social media.
One thing is certain: Attie will remain a separate app from Bluesky, giving users the option to subscribe. As Bluesky develops, Attie will be “the place where we test effective social media,” Graber said. “I want it to accelerate the process of social decentralization and put power back into the hands of users.”
