The New Friend AI Pendant Can Now Talk Back to You
Avi Schiffmann has a new version of his controversial AI companion. It’s more expensive, and you can’t change its personality.
Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann welcomes me into his palace—what he calls his large apartment in San Francisco.
He sits on the couch in his living room, clad in an orange shirt emblazoned with a cartoon version of the motorcycle driven by Italian racer Valentino Rossi. He props his feet up on the side table and leans back, a round, softly glowing circular Friend pendant dangling from a yellow cord around his neck.
This is the second iteration of the Friend necklace , the controversial AI companion device that just about everyone ( me included ) seems to hate. The company announced the device on Thursday through its new X handle .
The first version of Friend was an always-listening AI wearable that responded via text message. The big update here is a speaker on the back that lets the device voice its responses aloud. That has changed the shape of the pendant, as the underside with the speaker is bulkier than before. Its AI chops have also been upgraded, now running OpenAI’s latest models .
Like the first go, Friend aims to be a digital companion users can talk to and hold long conversations with. Unlike the original, each new pendant comes with a random voice and personality already established. The user cannot change the voice or name, so you’re locked in with that Friend. (Your mileage may vary on how friendly the thing actually is to you.)
The new pendant costs $249, a marked increase over the original’s $129 price. You can buy one now on Friend.com , a domain Schiffmann paid $1.8 million for. There is also an optional $10 monthly subscription that lets the AI remember the conversations you’ve had for longer than 30 days. The colorful cord around Schiffmann’s neck is part of an accessories collection he says will be coming later this year.
