Friend, the lonely AI wearable, returns with a new voice and a much bigger price tag

Two years ago, tech founder Avi Schiffmann launched Friend, an AI wearable that you could talk to and that would send you text messages about your day. The idea, ostensibly, was to use artificial intelligence to combat loneliness. This week, the company announced a new overhaul of the product, introducing a noticeable upgrade: a voice. “Introducing friend 2.0,” Schiffmann tweeted Thursday. Friend now comes with a built-in speaker that can project a unique and consistent personality to its user. A new commercial for the wearable shows a woman wearing a Friend and talking to it about what is presumably her ex-girlfriend. “It’s not bad to be gay,” the necklace tells her. The video then switches to a man standing on a hillside discussing his filmmaking ambitions with his Friend. “That last film you made was insane!” the necklace compliments him. The new retail price for this enhanced version of Friend is $249, which is substantially higher than the $99 price tag it had when it initially launched two years ago. What can you really do with your Friend other than chitchat about your day? That part is still unclear. In another recent post on X, Schiffmann expounded upon what he felt the whole point of his weird product actually is. “I am interested in this kind of relationship in attempting to offer, some kind of confidant, friend, God, not really sure what it is,” Schiffmann said. “But it is not an assistant, and it is not a lover.” var playerInstance_jwplayer_6a6bea8c4e9da = jwplayer( "jwplayer_6a6bea8c4e9da" ); playerInstance_jwplayer_6a6bea8c4e9da.setup({ playlist: "https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4CEANrFT", }); Interesting! Selling a plastic, algorithm-based necklace to people by insinuating it might, in fact, be a deity, is pretty bold marketing. Of course, Schiffmann’s company has engaged in bold marketing before. Friend’s billboard campaign in the New York City subway system last year went viral after they were continually defaced, presumably by people who didn’t want human connection to be replaced by a digitized amulet. Most AI wearables have failed to catch on with the mainstream — at least so far. The offering most similar to Friend was Humane Inc., which sought to replace the iPhone with its AI pin but had to shut down its business in less than a year after poor sales.