After paying $1.8 million for a domain name, Harvard dropout launches AI-wearable
The startup Friend has launched a $99 AI necklace that listens to all of a user's conversations.
Image by Cybernews.
The startup Friend has launched a $99 AI necklace that listens to all of a user's conversations.
Friend, founded by Harvard dropout Avi Schiffmann, who previously created a website that tracked COVID-19, has launched an AI wearable that is supposed to combat loneliness.
According to Techcrunch, the startup managed to get a $2.5 investment from well-known names in the tech world, including Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, Solana founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, and a few more investors.
Interestingly, GeekWire reports that Schiffmann borrowed $1.8 million to buy the domain friend.com.
"It was worth it. No regrets," Schiffmann told the website. "It was just sitting there for 17 years, no one did anything with it. For a product like this, especially the whole privacy aspect of it's always listening, etc, you can't have, tryfriend.ai. It just doesn't feel real."
On friend.com, users can now order the necklace, which is positioned as a way to combat loneliness. When connected to Bluetooth with a smartphone or tablet, it listens to all the users' conversations.
After a user presses a button on a necklace and talks to it, the necklace sends a response via text message to a connected smartphone. The company explains that "Friend" can also decide to send a message on its own via a prompt.
Multiple platforms, like Replika and Character.AI, offer virtual "AI friends" to chat with via the web or app. However, according to Schiffmann, the hardware makes it easier to talk to rather than just having an app.
Such a device, which will record messages that may include names, addresses, and other types of personal data, also raises questions about how it will handle users' data.
Friend states that privacy will be ensured by encrypting all conversations, while no audio or transcripts will be stored past "Friend's context window."
The company says that the $99 necklace, which is currently available for preorder in the US and Canada, will be shipped starting in Q1 2025.