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Friend , a startup create a $ 99 , AI - power necklace designed to be treat as a digital companion , has delayed its first batch of loading until Q3 .
Friend had be after to ship devices to preorder customer in Q1 . But according to Centennial State - founder and CEO Avi Schiffmann , that ’s no longer practicable .
“ As much as I would like to have shipped in Q1 of this year , I still have refinements to do , and unfortunately you’re able to only get down manufacturing electronics when you are 95 % done with your design , ” Schiffmannsaidin an email to customers . “ I gauge that by the end of February , when our prototype is double-dyed , that we will begin our final sprint . ”
An email I sent out to all Friend preorder customer : pic.twitter.com / wUPR0OhpI4
— Avi ( @AviSchiffmann)January 20 , 2025
Friend , which has an eight - individual technology staff and $ 8.5 million in capital from investors , including Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas , raised supercilium when itspent$1.8 million on the domain name Friend.com . This drop , as part of what Schiffmann call in an “ experimentation , ” Friend debut a web platform on Friend.com that let people to talk to random examples of AI characters .
Reception was motley . TechRadar ’s Eric Schwartznotedthat Friend ’s chatbots often inexplicably kick off conversations with anecdotes of traumas , admit muggings and firings . Indeed , when this newsman visit Friend.com Monday afternoon , a chatbot named Donald share that the “ ghosts of [ his ] past ” were “ gross out him the f — out . ”
In the above - mentioned email , Schiffmann also enunciate that Friend would be winding down its chatbot experience .
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“ We ’re happy that millions got to fiddle around with what I believe to be the most naturalistic chatbot out there , ” Schiffmann wrote . “ This has really proven our internal ability to manage traffic , and has really taught us a lot about digital companionship … [ But ] I want us to stay focused on only the hardware , and I have bring in that digital chatbots and embodied companions do n’t amalgamate well . ”
AI - powered companions have become a live - button issue . Character . AI , a chatbot chopine backed by Google , has beenaccusedin two separate lawsuits of inflict psychological harm on children . Some experts have convey fear that AI company couldworsen isolationby replacing human relationships with artificial ones , and generate harmful contentthat can trigger genial wellness atmospheric condition .
