Good AI wearables are hard to find these days: While tech startups like HumaneAI and Rabbit R1 are trying to reinvent the wheel with minimalist versions of smartphones, an upcoming device called Friend seems to just want to be by your side, if you believe the ads.
Friend, a wearable, neck-wearing, ball-shaped AI companion, was developed by Avi Shifman, best known for building a website to help track the spread of the coronavirus in 2020. As Shifman explained in interviews with The Verge and WIRED, Friend is just that: a friend: Its purpose isn’t to handle tasks or improve productivity, but to be a supportive presence, offering advice and encouragement when needed.
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Schiffman, who’s been working on the idea for years, announced the project on Tuesday to a lukewarm response on social media. In fairness, the trailer that was released is beautiful.
The tweet may have been deleted
The tweet may have been deleted
The tweet may have been deleted
The tweet may have been deleted
One X user, in a rap (?!), claims that Friend was his idea.
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To make matters worse, the founders raised $2.5 million in funding and then spent $1.8 million of it on domain names for their products.
The tweet may have been deleted
The tweet may have been deleted
So what we’re left with, and what was shown in the reveal trailer, is a Bluetooth device that basically wraps around your neck and is always listening in. It allows you to send texts to your phone, and according to the site’s FAQ page, “Your friends are always listening in, forming thoughts in their own minds. We’ve given your friends the free will to decide when they want to contact you.”
Of course, that might sound a bit creepy. The site assures potential buyers that nothing will be tracked, recorded, or logged. All data is “end-to-end encrypted,” and it promises that it can be deleted through the Friend app, which is only available for iOS, by the way. And if you break your Friend, you’ll have to start over with a new one.
If you want to get your hands on one, you’ll just have to wait: Preorders start at $99.99, and the site says they’ll ship in the first quarter of next year. In the meantime, you might just make some real-life friends.
topic
artificial intelligence
