The Path, founded by Tony Robbins and Calm alums, hopes to offer safer AI therapy

The Path, a new AI therapy application, has secured $14.3 million in seed funding. Co-founded by motivational speaker Tony Robbins and former employees of the meditation app Calm, including Anson Whitmer and Tyler Sheaffer, the startup originated from the success of an AI interactive audio feature in a previous mental health app called Mental.

Anson Whitmer's personal history significantly influenced The Path's mission. Tragic family experiences with suicide led him to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology and a desire to make mental health support widely accessible. He recognized that while meditation apps like Calm had an impact, they didn't fully address the unique and personal nature of individuals' psychological challenges, nor the global shortage of therapists.

Whitmer views large language models (LLMs) and AI as crucial for bridging this gap, offering personalized mental health support to a broader audience. He notes that while millions use consumer chatbots like ChatGPT for mental health queries, these platforms are "optimized for engagement" rather than therapeutic depth. This approach, he argues, is fundamentally at odds with effective therapy, which requires deep understanding and problem resolution rather than quick fixes or reinforcement.

The Path's AI is specifically designed to provide structured and understanding-based therapeutic interactions. Unlike general consumer bots, its proprietary AI model, trained from open-source models, scored 95 on the Vera-MH mental health safety AI benchmark, significantly higher than the top score of 65 for consumer bots. The app, currently free, allows users to choose from 11 virtual AI therapists and customize their preferences, with plans to introduce a $40 monthly fee in the future.