> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Pi Review (2026): Inflection's Personal AI, Tested for Australia - URL: https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/review-pi-inflection-australia-2026/ - Published: 2026-08-31T23:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T06:34:30.000Z - Description: Pi was left for dead when Microsoft hired away Inflection's founders in 2024. Two years on it is still here — free, recently updated, and genuinely the most pleasant AI to talk to. But its owner nearly shut it down once, your chats train its models by default, and nothing about it is Australian. A l - Author: Adam - Tags: AI Assistants & Chatbots, Pi, #review **15**/25 ★★★☆☆ Good Pi · Inflection AI Verified 20 Sep 2026 Reviewed 1 Sep 2026 Value for Money**4**/5 Ease of Use**4**/5 Feature Depth**3**/5 Australian Fit**2**/5 Reliability & Support**2**/5 **The gate:** Five stars need 21+ and Australian Fit of at least 4/5. [Skip to the verdict ](#verdict) > **The verdict:** Pi is the "personal AI" companion from Inflection AI, and the first thing to settle is whether it is even still a going concern — because in 2024 Microsoft paid roughly US$650 million to license Inflection's technology and hired away its founders and most of its staff, and the leftover company openly considered shutting Pi down. Here is what we found in September 2026: Pi is alive, free, and being updated again. The iOS app on the Australian App Store shipped a new version four days before this review, Inflection's site once again leads with Pi as its flagship, and in July 2026 the company publicly recommitted to consumer "personal intelligence" with a new Labs division and an experiment called Pi Journeys. As a free, warm, voice-first companion for talking things through, Pi remains the best-mannered AI on the market. But be clear-eyed about what it is not. It is not a work assistant — no rival to ChatGPT or Claude for documents, research or business tasks. Its owner has already flirted with killing it once, and offers no commitments about its future. Your conversations train Inflection's models unless you opt out, everything is processed in the United States, and there is no Australian pricing question only because there is nothing to buy. Use it for what it is: a free, genuinely likeable companion. Do not build a routine, a business process, or an emotional dependency on it. Score: 15/25 — Good. ## The headline: Pi is alive — but read its history first Most 2024 coverage left the impression Pi was a dead product walking. That is out of date, and the current state matters more than the obituary drafts. The history, quickly. In March 2024, Microsoft paid Inflection about **US$650 million** — mostly to license its AI models — while hiring co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, chief scientist Karén Simonyan and most of the roughly 70-person team into a new Microsoft AI unit ([Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/microsoft-to-pay-inflection-ai-650-million-after-scooping-up-most-of-staff?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). The gutted company pivoted to enterprise licensing, and by August 2024 it admitted it had considered sunsetting Pi altogether before deciding to keep it "afloat" with usage caps to save GPU costs ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/26/five-months-after-microsoft-hired-its-founders-inflection-adds-usage-caps-to-pi?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). The present, verified in the first week of September 2026: - **The product is live and maintained.** Pi works from Australia on the web at [pi.ai](https://pi.ai/?ref=theaidirectory.com.au), and the iOS app on the [Australian App Store](https://apps.apple.com/au/app/pi-your-personal-ai/id6445815935?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) is on version 26.824.0, updated in late August 2026 — four days before this review. Recent releases added hands-free and tap-to-talk voice modes, a redesigned interface, reminders, checklists and shareable plans. An Android app remains listed on [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.inflection.pi&ref=theaidirectory.com.au); we could not verify its last-update date at review time. - **The company has publicly recommitted to Pi.** On 21 July 2026 Inflection announced Inflection AI Labs and **Pi Journeys**, an experimental companion experience built around life stages — new parenthood, career change, caregiving ([announcement](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/inflection-ai-shaping-future-personal-130000573.html?ref=theaidirectory.com.au); [Inflection AI Labs](https://inflection.ai/labs?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). [Inflection's homepage](https://inflection.ai/?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) now leads with Pi again, and its [blog](https://inflection.ai/blog?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) published four posts on 21 July 2026 alone. - **The paperwork is current.** The [privacy policy](https://pi.ai/policy?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) was last updated 11 August 2026, and Inflection runs a public [status page](https://statuspage.incident.io/inflection-ai?ref=theaidirectory.com.au). So the honest framing is not "abandoned product." It is "product that nearly died, run by a diminished company that has changed direction twice in two years." That distinction drives everything below. ## What it is Pi — short for "personal intelligence" — is **a conversational AI companion**, not a productivity assistant. Inflection built it to be empathetic, curious and supportive: something to talk things through with, rather than something to do your work. That positioning has not changed since launch in 2023, and [Inflection's site](https://inflection.ai/?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) still describes Pi as "a personal intelligence partner." In practice you type or talk, and Pi responds in a warm, unhurried, conversational register — closer to a thoughtful friend than a search engine. It asks follow-up questions. It remembers context within and across conversations if you create an account. The 2026 updates added a light layer of practical tools: reminders, checklists and shareable plans, per the App Store release notes. Under the hood, Pi no longer runs on a single in-house frontier model. Inflection's CEO Sean White has described an orchestration layer that routes across multiple models, including fine-tuned and open-source ones — the company has said it will not compete in frontier model development ([VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/inflection-ai-returns-to-consumer-market-with-pi-journeys-after-microsoft-upheaval?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). For a companion product that is a defensible engineering choice, but it tells you the ceiling: Pi is not trying to match GPT-class reasoning, and it does not. One more thing Australians should notice before handing it to a teenager: the iOS app is rated **18+** on the [Australian App Store](https://apps.apple.com/au/app/pi-your-personal-ai/id6445815935?ref=theaidirectory.com.au). This is an adult-rated companion app. ## What it costs in Australia Nothing. **Pi is free**, on the web and in the apps, with no paid consumer tier — [pi.ai](https://pi.ai/?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) has no pricing page and no subscription, and the App Store listing shows no in-app purchases. There is no AUD conversion to do and no GST to account for, because there is nothing to buy. Inflection has monetised through enterprise licensing and its API instead, and it introduced rate limits on heavy Pi users back in 2024 ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/26/five-months-after-microsoft-hired-its-founders-inflection-adds-usage-caps-to-pi?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)); the company has never published what those limits are, and we could not establish them independently. Free cuts both ways. You will never be out of pocket, but you are also not a paying customer anyone is contractually obliged to look after. There is no SLA, no support plan, and no continuity commitment. With this company's history, that matters more than usual. ## How it works / features You open [pi.ai](https://pi.ai/?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) (or the app), tell Pi your name, and start talking. No account is needed to try it; an account unlocks memory across conversations. The pieces that stand out: - **Conversation quality.** Pi's register is its product: warm, patient, non-judgemental, and noticeably less robotic than the big assistants. For thinking out loud — a difficult conversation you are dreading, a decision you keep circling — it is genuinely good company. - **Voice.** Hands-free and tap-to-talk modes with a set of natural-sounding voices, per the App Store release notes. Voice is where Pi feels most like the "companion" it claims to be. - **Memory.** With an account, Pi carries context across sessions. The July 2026 Pi Journeys work is explicitly about deepening this — structured memory around your relationships and life stage ([VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/inflection-ai-returns-to-consumer-market-with-pi-journeys-after-microsoft-upheaval?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). - **Light practical tools.** Reminders, checklists, shareable plans — added in 2026\. Useful garnish, not a productivity suite. - **What it does not do.** No document upload and analysis, no image generation, no spreadsheet work, no serious cited research, no integrations with your email or calendar. If your mental benchmark is ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, Pi is playing a different, smaller game — deliberately. ## What it does well **It is the most pleasant AI to talk to, and that is not a soft claim.** Tone is the product, and Pi's remains distinctive three years on: it listens, asks questions back, and never buries you in bullet points. For rehearsing a hard conversation with a business partner or untangling a messy decision, it beats prompting a general-purpose chatbot into "be supportive" mode. **It is genuinely free, with no upsell.** No trial clock, no premium tier nagging you, no US-dollar subscription to convert. For an Australian who wants to experience conversational AI without spending a cent or handing over a card, Pi is about the lowest-friction entry point there is. **It is being actively developed again.** This is the finding that separates 2026 from the 2024 coverage: a late-August app update on the AU App Store, a July relaunch of consumer ambitions with Labs and Pi Journeys, a privacy policy refreshed in August, and a public status page. Slower-moving than the giants, but demonstrably not abandoned. **The privacy controls, on paper, are better than you might expect.** The [privacy policy](https://pi.ai/policy?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) lets you opt out of model training and of voice-based emotion inference in account settings, you can delete your account by typing "!delete" in the chat, and Inflection says it generally retains inputs for at most 15 days after user deletion. Few companion apps document this much. ## Where it falls short **The company nearly killed it once, and promises nothing about its future.** This is the big one. Inflection considered sunsetting Pi in 2024 and kept it running with capped resources ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/26/five-months-after-microsoft-hired-its-founders-inflection-adds-usage-caps-to-pi?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). The July 2026 recommitment is encouraging, but it is a strategy announcement, not a guarantee — and this is a company that has changed direction twice in two years. Treat Pi as a service that could be wound down or transformed with little notice, because it has form. **Your conversations train its models by default.** Training is on unless you find the opt-out in account settings, and Pi's whole design encourages you to share personal, emotional material. Inflection also says it may infer your emotional state from your inputs, including voice ([privacy policy](https://pi.ai/policy?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). Defaults matter; most users never open settings. **It cannot do work.** No files, no images, no research with citations, no integrations. Every month, free tiers of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini widen this gap. Pi's bet is that companionship is a different market — fair — but a Melbourne business owner looking for one AI to earn its keep should look elsewhere. **Nothing about it is Australian.** Data is processed and stored in the United States and other countries, with no Australian residency option; the policy's only regional carve-outs are for Europe and the UK ([privacy policy](https://pi.ai/policy?ref=theaidirectory.com.au)). There is no Australian entity, no local support channel, and support is a help-and-feedback menu in the app. **The companion category carries real duty-of-care questions.** Pi is rated 18+ on the App Store, and Inflection publishes a crisis-prevention and safety protocol on its site — welcome, but a reminder of what this product category is. An empathetic AI is not a counsellor. If someone is leaning on Pi for mental-health support, that is a flag, not a feature, and professional help is the answer. ## Australian fit **Pricing:** free, so no AUD or GST question arises — the rare tool where the currency column is empty. **Availability:** good — the web app works from Australia, and the iOS app is live on the AU App Store, updated late August 2026; Android is listed on Google Play. **Data residency:** none — processing and storage in the US and elsewhere, training on by default, and no Australia-specific privacy commitments (Europe gets a dedicated section of the policy; Australia does not). For anything touching Privacy Act-sensitive material, Pi is the wrong venue — and its confessional design makes that an easy line to cross without noticing. **Support:** no Australian presence, entity or local-time support. Australian Fit: 2/5. ## Score | Criterion | Score | Why | | --------------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Value for Money | 4/5 | Entirely free with no upsell — but no SLA, no support plan, and unpublished rate limits; you are not the customer. | | Ease of Use | 4/5 | Type a name and talk; voice mode is excellent. Memory needs an account, and the 18+ rating limits who can use it. | | Feature Depth | 3/5 | Delivers its companion promise, plus reminders, checklists and plans — but no files, images, research or integrations. | | Australian Fit | 2/5 | Free and available here, but US-only data handling, default training on chats, and no local support or commitments. | | Reliability & Support | 2/5 | Actively updated in 2026 with a public status page — but the owner considered shutting it down in 2024, capped it to cut costs, and commits to nothing. | | **Total** | **15/25** | | ⭐⭐⭐ Good (11–15). Australian Fit is 2/5, below the 4/5 threshold in our [methodology](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/methodology/), so Pi cannot be named a category Top Pick regardless of its score. ## Bottom line **If you want a free, kind, low-pressure AI to talk things through with, Pi is still the best at exactly that.** The tone is unmatched, the voice mode is genuinely good, and it costs nothing. It is a fine first AI for someone who finds ChatGPT cold or overwhelming. **If you want an AI for your business, this is not it.** No documents, no research, no integrations, no Australian data story. ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini will do a hundred things Pi cannot, on free tiers, from the same browser. **And whatever you use it for, hold it loosely.** Turn off model training in settings before you share anything personal. Do not put client or health information into it. And remember that the company behind it considered switching it off two years ago and makes no promises now. Pi in 2026 is a pleasant surprise — alive, updated, and recommitted — but a companion you cannot rely on being there is a companion to enjoy, not to depend on. Update history - **20 Sep 2026 🇦🇺** — eSafety's Age-Restricted Material Codes reach companion chatbots, and Pi is one. The duty is to assess the risk of children generating sexually explicit, self-harm or high-impact violence material, then address it — "either through age-checks or strong safety guardrails, depending on what is appropriate". Pi's answer is guardrails, not a gate. That is why you meet no age check here. The app-store rule that became enforceable on 9 September 2026 covers only R18+ downloads, so it does not touch Pi either. No score change. [Our news post](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/news-esafety-app-store-age-checks-australia-2026/) · [Source](https://www.esafety.gov.au/industry/codes/faq-access-to-online-porn-and-other-adult-content?ref=theaidirectory.com.au) - **1 Sep 2026** — First reviewed. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Pi still being developed? Yes — as of September 2026\. The iOS app on the Australian App Store was updated in late August 2026 (version 26.824.0), Inflection refreshed its privacy policy on 11 August 2026, and in July 2026 the company launched Inflection AI Labs and Pi Journeys, publicly recommitting to consumer "personal intelligence." Development is slower than the major chatbots, and Inflection has said it will not compete in frontier models — but Pi is maintained, not abandoned. ### Is Pi free in Australia? Yes, completely. Pi has no paid consumer tier, no subscription and no in-app purchases on the web, iOS or Android. Inflection makes money from enterprise licensing instead. Note that unpublished rate limits apply to heavy use, and free also means no SLA and no support commitments. ### What happened to Inflection AI? In March 2024 Microsoft paid Inflection about US$650 million, mostly to license its models, and hired its co-founders and most of its staff into Microsoft AI. The remaining company pivoted to enterprise, considered sunsetting Pi, then kept it running with usage caps. In July 2026, under CEO Sean White, it recommitted to consumer AI with Inflection AI Labs and Pi Journeys. ### Is my Pi data stored in Australia? No. Inflection processes and stores data in the United States and other countries, with no Australian data-residency option. Conversations are used to train Inflection's models by default — you can opt out in account settings — and the policy says inputs are generally retained for at most 15 days after you delete them. Do not share client, financial or health information with Pi. ### Is Pi good for business use? No. Pi is a companion, not a work assistant — it cannot analyse documents, generate images, do cited research or integrate with your tools, and there is no business tier, admin controls or Australian support. For work, use ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini; keep Pi for conversation. ## Read next - [ChatGPT review: the default AI assistant, tested for Australia](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/chatgpt-review-australia/) - [Perplexity review: the answer engine, tested for Australia](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/perplexity-ai-review-australia/) - [How we score AI tools — our review methodology](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/methodology/) ## Sources - https://pi.ai/ (primary; live product, free access, verified from Australia 1 Sep 2026) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901220934/https://pi.ai/ (capture on record 1 Sep 2026 — same day as our live verification; note the SPN API reported 520 while the capture landed, and the archived single-page app may render blank in replay) - https://inflection.ai/ (primary; company site, Pi positioned as flagship) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260822052241/https://inflection.ai/ - https://inflection.ai/blog (primary; blog listing incl. four posts dated 21 Jul 2026) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215803/https://inflection.ai/blog - https://inflection.ai/labs (primary; Inflection AI Labs / Pi Journeys) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215714/https://inflection.ai/labs - https://pi.ai/policy (primary; privacy policy, last updated 11 Aug 2026 — US processing, training opt-out, 15-day input retention, !delete) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901222046/https://pi.ai/policy (capture on record 1 Sep 2026; same replay caveat as pi.ai) - https://apps.apple.com/au/app/pi-your-personal-ai/id6445815935 (primary; AU App Store — free, 18+, v26.824.0 late Aug 2026, 4.5★ from 201 ratings) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215352/https://apps.apple.com/au/app/pi-your-personal-ai/id6445815935 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.inflection.pi (primary; Android listing — update date not verified) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215511/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.inflection.pi - https://statuspage.incident.io/inflection-ai (primary; public status page) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215937/https://statuspage.incident.io/inflection-ai - https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/inflection-ai-shaping-future-personal-130000573.html (primary-adjacent; Inflection press release, 21 Jul 2026 — Labs + Pi Journeys) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215548/https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/inflection-ai-shaping-future-personal-130000573.html - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/microsoft-to-pay-inflection-ai-650-million-after-scooping-up-most-of-staff (secondary; US$650M Microsoft deal, staff exodus) — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20250820095853/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/microsoft-to-pay-inflection-ai-650-million-after-scooping-up-most-of-staff (pre-existing snapshot; article dated March 2024) - https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/26/five-months-after-microsoft-hired-its-founders-inflection-adds-usage-caps-to-pi (secondary; usage caps, considered sunsetting Pi, "keeping consumer Pi afloat") — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20260901215142/https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/26/five-months-after-microsoft-hired-its-founders-inflection-adds-usage-caps-to-pi/ - https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/inflection-ai-returns-to-consumer-market-with-pi-journeys-after-microsoft-upheaval (secondary; consumer return, Sean White, multi-model orchestration) — no Wayback snapshot exists and the origin blocks the crawler (SPN 520); secondary corroboration only — every claim it supports is also carried by the snapshotted Inflection primaries above