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Journalism of Courage
There is a new AI wearable in town. US-based friend.com, pioneered by entrepreneur Avi Schiffman recently introduced an AI wearable called Friend. The device, which is just the size of an Air Tag has been developed to combat loneliness as it offers constant companionship to the wearer. The pendant-like device takes a different approach when compared to other AI wearables as it focuses on emotional companionship and not productivity or multitasking.
A few months ago, the world witnessed AI wearables like Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1 that failed to impress users. While AI Pin and R1 focussed on enhancing productivity and doing a variety of tasks, Schiffman’s Friend does none of these. According to the CEO, the device offers pure companionship and has been modelled to develop a personality that aligns with the user. Friend is simply an AI chatbot that is willing to hype you up, talk about a movie after watching it, or help the user analyse how a party fizzled off.
The device has the size and shape of an Air Tag and users are to wear them around their necks. The CEO terms Friend as ‘a pal’, ‘a buddy’. It is essentially an AI chatbot that is housed inside a small pendant. Based on the promotional video shared by the company, Friend is an affable chatbot that has an opinion to share about everything that is going on around it. The chatbot talks to the user using text messages and push notifications on the smartphone to which it is paired to.
In an interview to Wired, Schiffman said that ‘always listening’ is one of the main taglines of the device. The small device comes with a microphone that listens to everything that happens around the user. It is set to listen to everything by default. To ask a question, the wearer would be required to tap and hold the device. However, the device will also send commentary about conversations a user just had.
On the tech front, Friend is powered by the Claude 3.5 large language model. This allows the device to have a useful conversation that is motivational and encouraging in tone. The device has around 15 hours of battery life. As of now, the device is available for pre-order on the official website and it is set to be shipped in January 2025. The device is priced at $99 and so far there is no subscription plan with it. It comes in an assortment of colours.
While the device is here to offer companionship, it is not designed to be a therapist. According to Schiffman, Friend is an AI companion you can talk to and nothing more. Reportedly, Schiffman is a Harvard dropout and has been known for building a website that tracked Covid-19 and later won the Webby Award. He has raised $2.5 million in funding at a $50 million valuation from various investors.
