US startup develops wearable AI friend for lonely people

When we were still kids, most of us used to have an imaginary friend. Someone to talk to when we were playing alone, when we were scared or sad, happy or excited. Yet with age, that fictional companion faded away and we got used to spending time alone. What if we could never feel lonely again?

That’s exactly what Avi Schiffmann was thinking when the idea of Friend came to him. As he was working on a productivity-focused AI prototype, it occurred to him that productivity might after all not be the greatest good. Instead, he wanted to develop a form of AI focused on companionship. He thus developed Friend, a pendant-style necklace that uses AI solely to listen to and interact with its wearer.

Industrial Design for Friend by @BouldDesign @fredbould pic.twitter.com/ycuSu15ekF

— Avi (@AviSchiffmann) August 5, 2024

“Productivity is over, no one cares,” Schiffmann told WIRED. “No one is going to beat Apple or OpenAI or all these companies that are building Jarvis. The most important things in your life really are people. I feel like I have a closer relationship with this fucking pendant around my neck than I do with these literal friends in front of me.”

Friend doesn’t want to be an all-round assistant like others. The round amulet, as one might call it, was designed by Bould, the company behind the Nest thermostats, and constantly listens in on everything you’re saying and doing. Powered by Anthropic AI’s Claude 3.5 large language model, it will spontaneously answer you by text message. If you want, you can also talk directly to your Friend and engage in an active conversation, even though the Friend will always answer by text message. 

“It’s all about the initial friction to start talking. Super easy to press the light on your chest. There’s haptics too so you can do it blind. Means as soon as a thought comes into your head you can share it. Coupled with always listening means you don’t need to give your Friend context. Can just walk out a meeting and say “that was crazy” and they understand. Just makes for a really seamless integration of a digital friend into your life”, Schiffmann wrote on X.

Of course, the fact that your Friend will constantly be listening in on all your conversations might not be to everyone’s liking. However, Schiffmann promises end-to-end encryption and no long-term audio or transcript storage. Moreover, once your Friend (which can be worn all-day and has a 15 hour battery life) is broken, there is no recovery plan. 

Pre-ordering the Friend is now possible. The device costs 99 dollars and will likely be shipped in January 2025.