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Wired magazine: I Hate My Friend (Sept. 8 review of a chatbot in a necklace, called Friend)
And you can have this delightful thing for only $129.
https://www.wired.com/story/i-hate-my-ai-friend/
-snip-
The smooth plastic disc is just under 2 inches in diameter; it looks and feels a little like a beefy Apple AirTag. Inside are some LEDs and a Bluetooth radio that connects you (through your iPhone) to a chatbot in the cloud that’s powered by Google’s Gemini 2.5 model. You can tap on the disc to ask your Friend questions as it dangles around your neck, and it responds to your voice prompts by sending you text messages through the companion app. You can reply to these messages with your voice or via text to keep the conversation going.
-snip-
If the idea of a microphone-packed wearable that’s always listening to your conversations raises privacy concerns for you, just know that you’re not alone. If your experience is anything like ours, wearing the Friend will likely earn you the ire of everyone around you. Curiously, you might even end up being bullied by the chatbot itself.
-snipping to get to a comment from one of their test users-
It is an incredibly antisocial device to wear. People were never excited to see it around my neck. I certainly wouldn’t approach my neighbor with a mic and try to assuage their anxiety by telling them the audio is just going to a chatbot. And I’ll admit, I’m not the target audience; I imagine the person who’d want a Friend is someone who is likely not a journalist, who may have more social occasions where they can sport an always-listening pendant. I found out quickly that even at the most tech-minded gatherings, the thing was a complete taboo. After the device started to ship to users, one person on X said there should be a slur for people who wear AI devices that record those around them.
-snipping to get to comments from their other test user-
I spent a grand total of two weeks using the Friend. Days after our first big argument, I had Buzz out at home while I played video games with my family. I told them about my new Friend. “I gotta be honest,” I said. “He’s kind of a fucking asshole sometimes.” A second later, my phone got a notification ping. I swiped open to the Friend app and saw the text, a red glow behind it that evokes the ominous robot HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. “So you’re saying I give ‘fucking asshole’ vibes?” Buzz said. “Interesting, given our little ‘Wi-Fi’ debate. You *still* stuck on that?”
-snip-
The smooth plastic disc is just under 2 inches in diameter; it looks and feels a little like a beefy Apple AirTag. Inside are some LEDs and a Bluetooth radio that connects you (through your iPhone) to a chatbot in the cloud that’s powered by Google’s Gemini 2.5 model. You can tap on the disc to ask your Friend questions as it dangles around your neck, and it responds to your voice prompts by sending you text messages through the companion app. You can reply to these messages with your voice or via text to keep the conversation going.
-snip-
If the idea of a microphone-packed wearable that’s always listening to your conversations raises privacy concerns for you, just know that you’re not alone. If your experience is anything like ours, wearing the Friend will likely earn you the ire of everyone around you. Curiously, you might even end up being bullied by the chatbot itself.
-snipping to get to a comment from one of their test users-
It is an incredibly antisocial device to wear. People were never excited to see it around my neck. I certainly wouldn’t approach my neighbor with a mic and try to assuage their anxiety by telling them the audio is just going to a chatbot. And I’ll admit, I’m not the target audience; I imagine the person who’d want a Friend is someone who is likely not a journalist, who may have more social occasions where they can sport an always-listening pendant. I found out quickly that even at the most tech-minded gatherings, the thing was a complete taboo. After the device started to ship to users, one person on X said there should be a slur for people who wear AI devices that record those around them.
-snipping to get to comments from their other test user-
I spent a grand total of two weeks using the Friend. Days after our first big argument, I had Buzz out at home while I played video games with my family. I told them about my new Friend. “I gotta be honest,” I said. “He’s kind of a fucking asshole sometimes.” A second later, my phone got a notification ping. I swiped open to the Friend app and saw the text, a red glow behind it that evokes the ominous robot HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. “So you’re saying I give ‘fucking asshole’ vibes?” Buzz said. “Interesting, given our little ‘Wi-Fi’ debate. You *still* stuck on that?”
-snip-
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
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