Bluesky’s AI assistant Attie started life as a way for regular users to build custom social feeds without writing a single line of code. Now it’s becoming something bigger: a research tool for the open social web.
The company this week announced a new feature called Quests, which lets users ask Attie open-ended questions about what’s happening across the broader network Bluesky calls the Atmosphere. That includes Bluesky itself, plus any third-party app built on the AT Protocol, the open standard that powers the platform.
The timing makes sense. Bluesky’s user growth has cooled noticeably. The platform doubled its user base to 40 million last October in under a year, but it has only added about 5.6 million accounts since then, bringing the total to around 45.6 million. With growth slowing, the company is betting that better tools, not just more users, will keep it healthy and eventually help it make money.
Attie launched in March as a standalone product separate from the main Bluesky app. At its core, it helps users do things that previously required technical know-how:
- Design custom content algorithms
- Build personalized feeds
- Potentially write their own apps using natural language, sometimes called vibe-coding
Attie is free right now, but Bluesky has floated the idea of charging for it down the line. That’s part of a broader push to find revenue, which also includes a premium subscription and tools aimed at power users.
Quests adds a layer of intelligence on top of all that. Instead of just shaping your feed, you can now ask Attie what topics are trending, who the most influential voices are in a given field or region, or what conversations are picking up steam across the network. Think of it less like a feed builder and more like a research assistant with access to the open social web.
Jay Graber, Bluesky’s chief innovation officer who stepped down as CEO in March and has since been replaced by Toni Schneider, the former founding CEO of Automattic, framed the tool in pointed terms. “Attie’s AI is a tool that helps you make sense of the internet, helping you fight back against the proliferation of misinformation and noise by giving you the tools to find the truth yourself,” she wrote.
That framing matters. Bluesky’s user base tends to be skeptical of AI for economic, political, and environmental reasons, and the company has had to walk a careful line. Pitching Attie as a tool that gives users more control, rather than one that generates content for them, is a deliberate choice.
Graber also noted that Attie is getting a visual refresh, including accessibility improvements and a new logo, with more updates planned over the coming months.
The new Quests experience is currently in beta. Users will be let in from a waitlist over the coming weeks, so access won’t be immediate for everyone.
Bluesky has some financial cushion to work with here. In March, the company confirmed it had raised $100 million in a funding round that closed in 2025. That money gives it room to keep experimenting with Attie and figure out how AI fits into the Atmosphere, while also developing other revenue streams on the side.
Whether Attie becomes a meaningful part of Bluesky’s business will depend on whether users actually find it useful enough to pay for. A research tool that cuts through noise on a decentralized social network is an interesting idea. But interesting ideas need to earn their place.
