AI Eyes: Is This Funding Round Worth Following as AI Companions Gain 'Permission-First' Senses?

Over the past 12 months, the AI companion sector has attracted over $2 billion in venture capital. Top products like Character.AI have surpassed 80 million monthly active users, and Replika's annualized subscription revenue exceeds $150 million. However, almost all players face the same bottleneck: AI companions can only interact via text or voice, lacking real-time perception of your environment, expressions, and movements. Launched today on ProductHunt, AI Eyes pitches "Permission-first real-time senses," aiming to fill this gap. As a PE investor focused on hard tech and new energy, what I really care about is: How high are the technical barriers? Can the business model scale? And how does it actually compare to existing solutions?