AI startup Hark launches Handoff computer agent for web tasks

AI startup Hark has launched its first product, Handoff, a computer use agent (CUA) designed to autonomously navigate the internet on behalf of users. The company states that Handoff is capable of performing tasks such as ordering food, booking flights, and messaging job candidates.

Hark claims Handoff achieved the highest score to date on the Online-Mind2Web (OM2W) benchmark, scoring 97.7. The company also highlights competitive pricing, stating the model's cost is less than one-tenth of competing frontier models, at $0.18 per million input tokens.

Handoff operates by spinning up a dedicated virtual computer with its own browser for each request. Users can connect their existing accounts, allowing the agent to log in and utilize saved information like addresses and payment methods.

Hark's research indicates that despite 75% of daily screen time being spent in browsers, less than 1 in 1000 websites have public APIs, posing a challenge for AI agents taking over workloads.

The company was founded by serial entrepreneur Brett Adcock and recently raised a $700 million Series A funding round at a $6 billion valuation.