Does “Avi Schiffmann” ring a bell? Maybe not, but you should know that he became well-known in 2020 at the age of 17 for creating the first website to track COVID-19 cases worldwide.
This achievement earned him a Webby Award, an award for excellence on the Internet. Two years later, he launched a similar project to help Ukrainian refugees find hosts in neighboring countries, which faced some criticism for not verifying participants.
After leaving Harvard University, the now 21-year-old Schiffmann is working on a new project called Friend. As Wired reports, he spent $1.8 million to purchase the domain for this project (another thing that has been criticized and mocked), aiming to create the first AI-infused wearable to succeed in the market.
It’s not going to be easy. Previous attempts like the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 have struggled, potentially due to unrealistic expectations. However, Schiffmann’s approach with Friend seems very different, as highlighted in the device's promotional video.
Friend is a pendant-like device that aims to be, you guessed it, your friend. Your best friend, even. It consists of two parts: the pendant itself, which includes a sort of “case,” and the device, which resembles an Apple AirTag and contains multiple microphones and an internal battery.
At the moment, Friend is only compatible with iPhones. It’s priced at $99 and, at least for now, there’s no associated subscription fee. However, due to the device’s reliance on Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 chatbot, it’s possible that a subscription may be introduced in the future to cover the computational expenses.
The concept of Friend is reminiscent of the dystopian future portrayed in Spike Jonze’s movie Her, where a man ends up developing a relationship with an AI virtual assistant. Schiffmann’s wearable device constantly listens and allows users to communicate with it, but you won’t hear the responses. Instead, they’ll be displayed in the iPhone app. For now, it’s unclear whether these messages will also appear on the Apple Watch, which could enhance the overall user experience.
Friend appears to have taken inspiration from Replika, a platform that allows users to create and interact with virtual avatars using AI, providing companionship, conversation, and even flirtation.
The video above shows some of the interaction scenarios proposed by its creator. In those situations, it seems that the device is able to infer the type of response in a somewhat scary way. In one scenario, for instance, the AI devices seems to mock a young man who’s losing at a video game.
In another scenario where a female employee is taking a break, eating a snack, and watching a show on her phone, Friend seems to pick up on what TV series it is and gives its opinion, presumably aligned with the user’s tastes. After spilling some sauce right on her pendant, she apologizes, and Friend replies with a “Yum.” Huh? This is unsettling. It’s a pendant. It has no sense of taste.
In the last scene of the promotional video, a girl takes a male friend to a place she’s never taken anyone before. “Okay, besides her,” she tells him, pointing to her pendant. “Guess I must be doing something right, then,” the guy says. The two look at each other, a little uncomfortable, with him probably thinking he has to compete with some kind of AirTag.
The video hints at how Friend might interact. While the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 promised much more than they actually delivered, the idea of wearing Friend and having it become your best friend is troubling.
Especially because of the implications this has for human relationships–will we end up replacing people with bots? That’s what this device seems to be aiming for: It listens at all hours and then responds to you with messages, giving you someone, or rather, something, that converses with you and keeps you company, even if it’s artificial.
Similar to Replika, although in this case there’s no active listening, you are the one who initiates the conversation. It’s an interaction that at least allows the AI not to be constantly aware of you. You can deactivate it.
It’s uncertain if you can perform similar actions with Friend. Even if it were possible, there’s a potential privacy concern. Schiffman says that Friend doesn’t retain audio recordings or transcripts, and users have the ability to modify or delete any stored memories.
The Friend device competes with another product that coincidently has the same name and format. The creator, Nik Shevchenko, developed it based on ChatGPT and with it, he aims to create summaries of user conversations and update personal profiles for your friends and colleagues.
Shevchenko and Schiffmann are currently competing on social media platforms like X, defending their own products as the truly original ones.
Friend will be available in the first quarter of 2025. That’s when you’ll be able to see if it’s truly an AI wearable that delivers on its promises and if that’s enough to make it successful.
This article was written by Javier Pastor and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.
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