Slingshot AI (Ash)

What is Ash, and who is behind it?

Slingshot AI Inc. was co-founded by Daniel Cahn, the CEO, and Neil Parikh, who also co-founded Casper. Goodwin Law's announcement puts total funding at $93 million, co-led by Radical Ventures and Forerunner Ventures, with a16z, Felicis and Menlo investing earlier. The company ran a beta with 50,000 users over 18 months before launch.

Cahn announced Ash on July 22, 2025 as "the first AI designed for therapy". Puck reports that the company uses ChatGPT, Claude and Llama as backbone models. The App Store listing itself uses plainer wording: "AI for Mental Health", with the line "Say what you really feel, and get professional guidance."

What does the app do?

Users talk or type at any hour. The listing describes weekly insights that identify themes and patterns in a user's life, and a personalized program with a chosen modality and style. Choosing Therapy's reviewer reported that earlier conversations were recalled and that test messages hinting at self-harm drew a referral to 988 and other crisis lines.

The listing promises a privacy-first design with chats that are "secure and anonymous". It mentions neither HIPAA nor a business associate agreement, which matters to a clinician who might point patients to it. Choosing Therapy adds that conversations may be used to tune the model unless the user opts out, which is its reading of the privacy policy.

Is there clinical evidence?

None that PubMed returns. What exists is ratings and reviews. The App Store shows 4.8 stars from about 5,700 ratings on version 2.8.4. Choosing Therapy gave Ash 4 out of 5 in a review updated in August 2026, calling it a good fit for someone with mild mental health needs and "not to be used in any kind of emergency". It also raised the concern that in a free app the user is the product. Negative App Store reviews quoted there say Ash repeats back what the user said and answers slowly.

Choosing Therapy rates Wysa 3.5 out of 5 in the same set of reviews.

What do the in-app purchases cost?

The iOS App Store lists four in-app purchases for unlimited access, at $9.99, $19.99, $44.99 and $169.99.

The verdict

Ash suits an adult with mild distress who wants a conversation at 2 a.m., which matches where Choosing Therapy placed it. It does not suit anyone in a crisis, who needs a person, and it gives a clinician nothing to cite when a patient asks whether to use it, because PubMed holds no study of Ash and its listing gives no HIPAA terms.