Bringing the Power of AI Agents to your iPhone: Adam Cohen Hillel's Journey to Build Dafdef's AI Key

The rise of computer use AI models, like solutions launched by Claude, offer the potential to automate complex workflows across a user’s computer apps and browser. Companies like Asana, Canva, and Replit are already exploring ways to deploy computer use AI in their platforms. 

But while computer use AI has exciting potential, most of these agents are confined to desktop/browser environments, and don’t support mobile use. That’s missing a huge chunk of activity—57% of total daily time spent online by internet users is via mobile devices, and mobile is often home to core workflows like email and texting. 

With over a decade of experience in mobile gaming, cybersecurity, and AI, Adam Cohen Hillel recognized that developments in computer use models were really exciting. “Very similar to how GPT2 and GPT3 felt in the early days, like there’s something there,” he explains. But he knew that to truly integrate into users’ lives, models would need to expand beyond desktop. 

So he set out to push the space further and develop a solution that would bring the power of computer use models to everyday mobile devices.

Introducing Dafdef AI Key: The Portable AI Agent for iPhone

Today, Adam is leading Dafdef, an AI browser for iOS that recently launched AI Key, a USB-C key that turns your phone into a trusted AI assistant. By plugging AI Key into your phone, you can access computer use AI models that make it possible to command and perform actions across all of your apps, whether at home or on-the-go. 

Unlike API integrations or limited apps, AI Key provides general-purpose AI that can perform any task on your device. And whenever you want to stop the AI, you can either pause the action or unplug the key directly. This makes it easy to automate repetitive work on your phone while staying in complete control of your information. 

For many of us, our phones are the center of our lives, and keeping information on them secure is table stakes for any new mobile technologies, especially something as powerful as AI. As such, privacy is paramount in Dafdef’s approach. The team are working towards running these models on user's phones to avoid data transmission, and the company doesn’t store any user data on company servers. 

After developing their prototype, Dafdef opened AI Key for preorders and was met with massive response. The launch generated 15 million views directly, resulting in hundreds of pre-orders and attention from investors and potential enterprise partners. They’re now scaling production and preparing to bring the product to market at scale, partnering with UCG creators and amplifying viral moments with paid campaigns to drive growth.

From Teenage Entrepreneur to Multi-Time Founder

Adam has been operating as a founder for nearly as long as he can remember. At just 13 years old, he founded one of Israel's first major mobile gaming companies, which eventually reached 1.5 million users by the time he turned 20. 

Afterwards, he joined the IDF’s cybersecurity unit, where he spent several years developing expertise in digital security. Next he moved to London to join Cado Security as their first employee, helping scale the startup from a one-person operation to a 60-person company before its acquisition by Darktrace.

But Adam reached another breakthrough when he began experimenting with AI products, first building an AI chat companion app, Deepen, and then an AI wearable called Adeus, which gained traction on Twitter and helped Adam establish himself in San Francisco's AI community.

Seeing the trajectory of computer use models, Adam’s experience allowed him to think steps ahead about where the space could go. "I saw what was happening with computer use models and thought ‘wow, it feels like the moment where they’re doing something," he recalls. "It's not there just yet, but you can see the trajectory from here to six months from now, a year from now."

After initially building his own computer-use product, Suna, which allowed an AI to have its own computer and attracted over 140,000 users, Adam realized that “the value of agents is to work with the human wherever the human is. And humans are mostly on mobile devices."

This realization became the gateway to AI Key—bringing the power of computer use AI to the devices where people spend most of their time, bridging the gap between powerful desktop AI agents and the mobile-first world. As Adam looks to the future, he’s aiming for Dafdef to be the company that brings AI phone usage to mainstream consumers.

Prioritizing Consistency over Noise

Although Adam has years of continued growth ahead of him, he’s already experienced many ups-and-downs of the founder journey. Here are three key takeaways he’s learned:

• Persistence pays off: Marketing programs that get no traction initially can go viral later with slight changes or timing. It’s important to keep testing and iterating. 
• Build in public: Transparency attracts better talent and investors who follow your journey long-term.
• Don't fear competitors: Most new entrants in hot spaces lack conviction and disappear within months.

"I would not care too much about competitors, especially if something is very new. Many people will pop up doing similar stuff because it's hot, but then most don't really have the conviction to run through it and build a company and they’ll disappear after a month or two.”

To learn more about Adam’s journey, you can follow him on LinkedIn or check out AI Key.