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Generative AI role model have demonstrated to app developer that combining a full-bodied noesis substructure with the right framework can enable them to propose user services — once reliant on costly professionals like healer or executive assistant — at a fraction of the price . Former VP of product at fitness companyWhoop , Rami Alhamad , has a similar take on nutrition with his new appAlma .
The iOS app , set up for exploiter in North America today , is a well - designed app with a calorie tracker and a nutrition guide with an AI stratum on top of it .
Alhamad thinks that fitness apps like MyFitnessPal make nourishment tracking tedious , with drug user having to manually look for dishes and input them for dissimilar type of meals . alternatively , he thinks you should just peach to ( or type to ) Alma ’s AI assistant about what you ate , and the app will calculate out the percentage and large calorie intake through estimates . you’re able to conform these measures after the app shows you calorie numeration as well .
Alternatively , you’re able to take a photo of your repast , and the AI algorithm will place dishes for you . Such lineament are already usable in apps likeKholsa - backed HealthifyandYC - backed SnapCalorie . However , Alma is banking on its design , multifariousness of input methods , and ease of use as key drivers for outgrowth .
Besides calorie tracking , you could demand the AI supporter to suggest repast to converge your goals of fiber and protein inhalation . Plus , you’re able to upload a fare picture and ask the AI assistant to commend suitable items harmonize to your destination .
The app also gives you a grudge , which is based on what you wipe out on a peculiar sidereal day in terms of calories and macros . The app uses that score to give you tips on improving your diet .
In addition , as you chat more with the AI assistant in the app , it learns your predilection and give you mesmerism consequently . you may see these insight in your profiles and cut them as well .
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The society bear to make money through a monthly subscription of $ 19 or an one-year subscription of $ 199 .
The story behind Alma and future plans
Alhamad , who build a sports tech startup telephone Push and finally sell it to Whoop , say TechCrunch he was thinking of doing something Modern in the sphere of health and victuals after exiting Whoop in 2022 . According to him , while there are tracker for workouts and eternal sleep , there is n’t a virtual solution to go after aliment .
“ For the last 10 years of my life , I have always gained and lost weightiness . I have spent a long time on apps like MyFitnessPal , type poppycock to track my nutrient inspiration . When ChatGPT came around , just like a raft of other masses , I get using it for meal provision and kitchen keep . However , it was n’t individualize . So last year , after I left Whoop , I start up think about this problem , ” Alhamad allege .
Alhamad , who became an enterpriser in abode at Menlo Ventures to progress Alma , believes that in the consumer space , there will be specialised companies using AI that focus on only one topic . The inauguration has raised $ 2.9 million fromMenlo Ventures and Anthropicthrough the Anthology Fund until now .
On the proficient front , the company is using a intermixture of models to get results . Alma notice that it is using noesis from Harvard Nutrition to fetch resolution . The party said it has several people on staff focus on nutritionary noesis to expand its dataset . Alhamad said that the inauguration also wants to look beyond the U.S. to bring wellness knowledge from around the world .
The Alma team would like to progress on intellectual nourishment discovery in the app as well . Currently , you may ask for recipe and get answers from the AI helper , but you ca n’t save them for future reference . The app desire to auto - populate solid food mesmerism based on your destination and preference . Plus , it will also have a way to cook food easily from what you have in the pantry .
Chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude can already do a passel of those thing , but the detrition for the user is that you have to cue them right with context each time . Apps like Alma are essay to take away the headache of writing recollective prompts through app features . Last year , Samsung’sFood appgained some features like pantry tracking and recipe suggestionsbased on the item that you have in the house .
Shawn Carolan , a cooperator at Menlo VC , read that ease of enroll your food intake makes Alma an attractive solution .
“ If I use up 20 affair in a mean solar day , it ’s tough to immortalize each one of them by attempt to find them in a list . With Alma , you could just talk to it and register all of that quickly . If something take in you 30 instant and a new app reduces that to just a few seconds , it becomes a fundamental utilisation driver , ” Carolan said .
He supply that right now , raft of people are not confer a nutritionist , and Alma can give them easy memory access to that sort of information .
“ People are pass grand of dollars a calendar month to get injection to lose weight . So the question is , if you had this gross nutritionist in your sac who could help you with your goal , mayhap you could take a drug - devoid glide path to achieve your health goals , ” Carolan say .
