Friend, a new AI-powered gadget shaped like a small pendant on a necklace, was created by 21-year-old Avi Schiffmann, a Harvard dropout who made headlines and fortune in big tech at the age of only 17 by developing the first website to track COVID cases across the world during the peak of the pandemic. The Friend recently raised $2.5 million in funding at a $50 million valuation with Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas and top executives from Google and Figma among the investors.
👍 What’s the Idea
Friend is an AI companion that is always there for you, carefully "listening" to the owner and communicating with him throughout the day. For example, it can wish you good luck before a job interview, send encouragement, or give a hint in a game. The Friend constantly monitors the user's mood and behavior — this data is used to train the AI and allow the device to understand the context and adapt to the owner's lifestyle.
💡 How it works
The pendant has a microphone that listens to everything around the wearer by default and sends messages via an iPhone app through Bluetooth. There’s a button you can tap and hold to ask a question and get an in-app response in text form. There’s no data backup: if the device breaks, all information is lost.
Friend is powered by Anthropic's Claude 3.5 model and has a battery life of around 15 hours. The gadget’s basic version costs $99, supports iOS, and will be available in early 2025; no paid subscription is required.
I would really view the product as like an emotional toy. I think the only successful use case of large language models is people talking about their day and their feelings to tools like Replika or Character AI. But with hardware present, I believe it is a better emotional connection.
Avi Schiffmann, creator of Friend
What do you think about this?
❤️ — like!
👾 — seems like a Tamagotchi
🙈 — "Friend" is watching you
More about the devices:
🧭 AI Compass for Mindful Walks
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