Boardy

Every once in a while an AI tool becomes a viral sensation. Most often this has been due to shareability of its outputs.

In the summer of 2022 social media feeds became filled with dreamlike images created by the new image generator Midjourney. Later that year, jaws collectively dropped as people shared their interactions with ChatGPT. More recently, generative video applications like Sora have gained adoption through film makers sharing the outputs.

In January 2025, Boardy had a similar moment.  It became available to message on LinkedIn during the w/b 13 January, and within a week it was as if every second post was about people’s interactions.

It’s premise is straightforward – you message it your phone number and email address, and it will call you up within minutes to have a conversation with you about your business. It will then make a recommendation to connect with someone relevant in its network, and then make an introduction for you.

Conversational agents were made part of Eleven Lab’s suite of audio tools in the previous Autumn – and thus are already widely available. However, Boardy represents a paradigm shift in people’s understanding of what conversational AI agents can do.

It is simple to access, provides utility and has a self fulfilling marketing premise by being of high interest to the social network it was distributed on.

Moreover, it’s principle AI application works brilliantly. The conversation is to the point, understanding and empathetic. It does not require a web application to function. It is, in many ways, a game changer.