November 17, 2023 Discord is set to deactivate Clyde, its experimental AI chatbot, by December 1st, marking the end of a significant phase in its exploration of AI-driven features within its chat and communities platform.

Clyde was initially introduced earlier this year. It was developed using OpenAI’s models, enabling the bot to answer questions and engage in conversations with Discord users. Although it has been under limited testing, the platform had plans to integrate Clyde more fundamentally into its app ecosystem.

The specific reasons for Clyde’s sudden discontinuation have not been made clear by Discord. It’s speculated that Clyde might return in the future, possibly as a feature exclusive to Discord’s Nitro subscribers, or the company may have concluded from its testing that an AI chatbot is not a necessary addition to its service.

Kellyn Slone, Discord’s Director of Product Communications, stated that Clyde was an experimental feature shared with a limited number of servers. Discord’s ongoing efforts to innovate and enhance user experience mean that Clyde is just one iteration of these developments, and the company anticipates introducing new user experiences in the future.

In addition to Clyde, Discord has been actively experimenting with various AI features, such as AI-generated conversation summaries, to help users catch up on missed discussions across different time zones. Furthermore, Discord has been encouraging the development of AI apps on its platform by offering support and resources to AI developers.

Sources include: The Verge