Private AI goes social: Anuma, built on ZetaChain, launches Nearby in New York

TL;DR: Anuma, the private AI app built on ZetaChain, launches Nearby in New York today. It uses what your AI already knows about you to find people near you worth meeting. Opt-in, conversations stay private, you choose what it uses. Free on the web, iOS and Android. See who's Nearby. In New York? Come to the launch party Friday, Oct 2. Elsewhere? Join the waitlist for your city.

Your AI has spent months learning what you care about. Today Anuma launches Nearby in New York, and for the first time that memory does something other than give you a better answer. It introduces you to people.

Anuma is the private AI app built on ZetaChain, the application layer for private AI: user-controlled memory, identity, permissions, and payments that work across AI models, apps, and agents. More than 300,000 people have joined since February, with one memory that follows them across every model.

More connected than ever, and lonelier

AI has never been better at listening and remembering, and that is exactly what makes it easy to feel close to something that is not a person. Stanford researchers found that people with small social circles who leaned on an AI companion for support did not feel better. Some felt lonelier. A Cigna report cited by the Los Angeles Times found that 67% of Gen Z say they are lonely. They are the most connected generation in history.

We do not think the answer is less AI. It is AI that knows you well enough to point you back toward the people around you.

What your AI knows, put to work

Every product that matches people starts by asking you to describe yourself. A quiz, a bio, six photos, a clever line. Nearby starts from something you have already been doing. Over months of chatting, planning, and creating, Anuma learns what you are into, what you are working on, the places you want to go, and the ideas you keep coming back to. You decide what it remembers, and that context shapes who you see on Nearby.

Say you have spent a month asking Anuma about getting back into running, and someone three blocks away has been planning the same thing. Neither of you would have put that in a bio, and both of you would want to know.

Getting started takes a few minutes. Pick a few interests, add a photo or two, and open the map. The profile keeps improving on its own, because the more you use Anuma, the better Nearby gets.

Nearby brings together two things that rarely meet. Context, what you care about. Proximity, people close enough to be part of your real life. Someone 3,000 miles away can match you on everything and change nothing. Someone five minutes away can get a coffee.

Why this needs a memory you control

Turning memory into introductions only works if you trust what happens to that memory. That is the layer ZetaChain builds, and we built it so something like Nearby could exist without anyone else holding your data.

On the Private Memory Layer, memory belongs to the user. Keys you hold encrypt it, it follows you across every model, and each model sees only what you allow. Nearby extends the same permission model to people.

Location is coming back to consumer AI. ChatGPT now asks where you are so it can recommend places. Anuma asks so it can recommend people, on a memory layer where you hold the keys.

Built on privacy

• Your conversations stay private. Nearby never shows your AI conversations or private memories to other users. You choose what to share.

• It is opt-in. You decide whether to appear to other people.

• You are in control. You choose what discovery may use, and you can switch it off at any time.

Starting in New York

Density matters when a product is built on proximity. New York has more than eight million people, thousands of communities, and something happening on every block. That makes it the right place to prove one idea: the people you should meet may be closer than you think.

Nearby is live in New York City today on the web, iOS and Android. Outside New York? Join the waitlist and we will tell you when it reaches your city.

What this means for ZetaChain

Anuma is where ZetaChain reaches people. Every account is a wallet, and ZETA is the token behind it: lock ZETA, receive credits, spend them on AI. On Sept 20, ZETA holders approved bringing ZETA and Anuma to Solana with 99.4% in favor. Nearby is what that layer looks like in the real world.

Your AI remembers. Now it connects. And the memory is yours.

In New York? Come to the Nearby launch party on Friday, Oct 2, 8pm at Downtown Social. 21+. Bring the app and the first drink is on us. RSVP on Partiful.

About Anuma

Anuma is the AI that remembers and connects. It brings leading AI models together in one interface with persistent memory, so people can use the right AI for the task without losing context or starting over. More than 300,000 people use Anuma for writing, thinking, planning, creating, and more. Nearby extends Anuma's understanding of you into the real world, helping you discover people and experiences that fit who you are. Learn more at anuma.ai.

About ZetaChain

ZetaChain is building the application layer for private AI: user-controlled memory, identity, permissions, and payments that work across AI models, apps, and agents. Its first consumer product is Anuma, a private multi-model AI app with one memory across every model, joined by more than 300,000 people since February. The next phase is bringing that application layer to Solana and opening it to a broader ecosystem of AI apps and agents.

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