Imagine a friend who never leaves your side, listens to every word you say, and hangs around your neck. That’s the promise of Friend, a necklace powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) making waves in tech circles.
Developed by Harvard University dropout Avi Schiffmann in 2024, Friend’s a wearable device that claims to be an AI companion by listening to conversations and sending real-time responses.
The device, which is retailing for $186 CAD, features a coin-shaped pendant less than two centimetres in diameter, a Bluetooth radio that connects you, through your phone, to a chatbot powered by Google’s Gemini 2.5 model.
Schiffmann first announced the product in July 2024, on World Friendship Day, in a video post on his X account, which now has garnered over 26 million views on X, that showed young people in lonely situations reaching out to their Friend necklaces for support and talking to them as though they were actual human beings.
The release of Friend was met with intense backlash from social media users, with some users even taking to X to write, “If this isn’t a skit, then this is the most pathetic [thing] I’ve ever seen.”
Users under Schiffmann’s original post voiced their concerns about the recent exponential growth of AI and its impact on day-to-day life. One user echoed this sentiment, writing that the ongoing rapid replacement of true human connection with machines and AI is saddening to witness.
Schiffman, however, disagrees, going as far as to say that if a Friend necklace has enough data and information based off of its user’s experiences, talking to it isn’t all that different than talking to God or a higher power.
Poor public reception to Friend hasn’t only appeared online. Graffiti appearing all over the company’s sprawling ad campaign in New York City’s West 4th Street subway station reads, “AI wouldn’t care if you lived or died.”
The rise of Friend and other similar artificial companions, such as that are constantly listening and providing feedback, or conversation in Friend’s case, raise further questions about not only the privacy and safety of its users, but the rise of the loneliness epidemic they signify too.
Schiffmann’s startup claims in its privacy disclosure that it “doesn’t sell data to third parties to perform marketing or profiling.” It may, however, use that data for research, personalization, or to “comply with legal obligations, including those under the GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation], CCPA [California Consumer Privacy Act], and other relevant privacy laws.”
Essentially, there’s a myriad ways users’ in-person private conversations are accessible to those on the other side of this chatbot.
Friend’s available for purchase in the US and Canada, which have both been suffering from rising rates of social isolation. Devices such as Friend promise to “fill that gap” by offering companionship on demand, but experts warn against substituting machine affirmation for human empathy in the long run.
As Friend blurs the line between machine and genuine human interaction, it becomes imperative to consider whether our future companions will be human or algorithmic.
Tags
AI, artificial intelligence, Avi Schiffman, wearable technology
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