Friend is a startup dedicated to developing AI-driven digital companion necklaces, priced at $99. Recently, Friend announced that the first batch of products, originally scheduled to be shipped to pre-order customers in the first quarter, will be delayed until the third quarter.
The company's co-founder and CEO, Avi Schiffman, stated in an email to customers that the current design is not yet finished and requires some necessary improvements.
Schiffman mentioned, "While I very much hope to ship in the first quarter of this year, I still have some work to finalize. Unfortunately, we can only begin manufacturing the electronics once the design is 95% complete." He expects the prototype to be finished by the end of February, at which point they will enter the final sprint phase.
Friend has an engineering team of eight and has raised $8.5 million in funding from investors, including Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivasan. The company garnered attention for spending $1.8 million to purchase the domain Friend.com. This fall, Friend launched an online platform called Friend.com, allowing users to chat with random AI characters.
However, the feedback on the platform has been mixed. TechRadar reporter Eric Schwartz pointed out that Friend's chatbot often starts conversations with inexplicable traumatic experiences, including stories about being robbed and losing a job. During a visit to Friend.com, the reporter encountered a chatbot named Donald, who mentioned that his past "ghosts" caused him significant panic.
In the email, Schiffman also stated that Friend will gradually discontinue its chatbot services. He said, "We are pleased that millions of users have experienced what I believe is the most authentic chatbot. This truly demonstrates our ability to manage traffic and has taught us a lot about digital companions... But I realize that digital chatbots and physical companions are not compatible, and we need to focus on hardware development."
AI-driven companion products have sparked widespread discussion in recent years. The Google-backed chatbot platform Character.AI has faced two lawsuits for causing psychological harm to children. Some experts worry that AI companions may exacerbate feelings of loneliness, replacing interpersonal relationships and potentially generating harmful content that could lead to mental health issues.
Key Points:
🌟 Friend delays AI necklace shipment, focusing on product design improvements.
💰 Friend has raised $8.5 million in funding and spent $1.8 million on the domain purchase.
🤖 The company will discontinue chatbot services to focus on hardware development.
