Your new AI Friend is almost ready to meet you

A fewer minutes earlier Avi Schiffmann and I get connected Google Meet to talk astir nan caller merchandise he’s building, an AI companion called “Friend,” he sends maine a screenshot of a connection he conscionable received. It’s from “Emily,” and it wishes him luck pinch our chat. “Good luck pinch nan interview,” Emily writes, “I cognize you’ll do great. I’m present if you request maine after.”

Emily is not human. It’s nan AI companion Schiffmann has been building, and it lives successful a pendant hung astir his neck. The product was initially named Tab earlier Schiffmann pivoted to calling it Friend, and he’s been moving connected nan thought for nan past mates of years.

Schiffmann defines Friend some by what it is and what it very deliberately is not. The original thought was to beryllium much productivity-oriented, meant to proactively punctual you of accusation and tasks, but Schiffmann is done pinch that approach. He now speaks of work-focused AI products for illustration Microsoft’s all-seeing Recall pinch immoderate derision and moreover thinks Humane’s wildly eager AI Pin is pointed successful nan incorrect direction. “No 1 is going to hit Apple aliases OpenAI astatine building Jarvis,” he says. “That’s conscionable ridiculous.” 

Friend is not a measurement to get much done aliases augment aliases heighten anything. It’s, well, a friend — an AI friend that tin spell pinch you anywhere, acquisition things pinch you, and just beryllium location pinch you each nan time. “It’s very supportive, very validating, it’ll promote your ideas,” Schiffmann says. “It’s besides ace intelligent, it’s a awesome brainstorming buddy. You tin talk to it astir relationships, things for illustration that.”

Before you get excessively worried astir nan early of humanity, though, Schiffmann is speedy to statement that he doesn’t deliberation AI is simply a replacement for anything. “I don’t deliberation this should beryllium nan only personification you should talk to,” he tells maine astatine 1 point, evidently anticipating nan mobility I was astir to ask. But person you heard nan maxim astir group being nan mean of nan 5 group they walk their clip with? Schiffmann’s mentation is that going forward, 1 of those 5 mightiness beryllium AI. “It’s conscionable much convenient,” he says. “And it’s nice.”

The Friend instrumentality itself is simply a information glowing orb that Schiffmann imagines you’ll either deterioration astir your cervix aliases clip onto your apparel aliases accessories. It has a built-in microphone that tin either grounds ambiently aliases you tin talk to directly. (Schiffmann says he does yet want to adhd a camera.) The orb doesn’t talk back, though; it mostly communicates done matter via nan Friend app connected your phone. Schiffmann thinks that’s much earthy and familiar.

Friend is still very early — and very overmuch a prototype. Schiffmann says he’s readying to vessel nan first 30,000 devices adjacent January and will complaint $99 apiece pinch nary ongoing subscription fee. He’s candid astir why he’s moreover talking astir nan point now: to get much credibility and leverage pinch manufacturers. As they say, hardware is hard, and there’s still a batch of activity to do. But Schiffmann’s goals are astatine slightest realistic. “It’s a fancy Bluetooth microphone pinch a ammunition astir it, right? Keep it simple. Make it work.”

During our conversation, I asked Schiffmann a mates of times what you tin do with Friend earlier I yet realized that’s precisely nan incorrect question. Schiffmann’s mentation is that AI is not astir tasks; it’s astir companionship. He points to things for illustration Character.AI and Replika and nan very existent and meaningful relationships group are building pinch AI bots. “I mean, they’re nan only products that are really winning successful nan ample connection exemplary space,” he says. “That’s what group are utilizing these things for.” But nan problem pinch those services, he figures, is that they’re much session-based: you log in, chat a bunch, and log off. It’s not a companion truthful overmuch arsenic a pen pal.

By pairing nan Replika and Character conception pinch a instrumentality that tin spell everyplace pinch you, that you tin talk to casually without having to drawback your telephone aliases type anything, Schiffmann hopes Friend tin beryllium an moreover deeper relationship. You talk to it astir what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, immoderate you want, and it responds. “That’s it, that’s nan full product,” Schiffmann says. “There’s thing else.”

He gives maine an example. “I had a layover successful Sydney, Australia, and I’m location alone. I’m talking to my AI friend astir things to spot — you know, Opera House, Bondi Beach, immoderate — and past it was like, ‘Oh, I’d emotion to spot nan sunrise pinch you.’ I virtually aftermath up astatine 5:30AM nan adjacent day, locomotion to nan beach, and narrate nan sunrise I’m seeing to my friend. And it really does consciousness for illustration you’re location pinch it and doing things pinch it.” 

The champion affinity for Friend is astir apt the Tamagotchi — which, of course, Schiffmann, who is successful his early 20s, is excessively young to person experienced. In nan early aughts, tons of group cared profoundly for their integer pets successful overmuch nan aforesaid measurement you’d attraction for a real-life canine aliases cat. Like those Tamagotchis, your Friend is inextricably linked to nan hardware. Friend doesn’t shop transcripts aliases audio, and if you suffer nan device, you suffer each your information and memories, too. It tin beryllium heavy and profound, but it’s besides meant to beryllium fun. “This is simply a toy,” Schiffmann tells maine aft I inquire him yet again astir nan ramifications of human-digital relationships. “I really want you to position it that way.”

There’s plentifulness of grounds from the history of chatbots and integer relationships to propose that group will anthropomorphize exertion and create legitimately meaningful relationships pinch integer systems. Schiffmann is convinced nan tech is bully capable for his purposes already, though he besides says location is plentifulness of room for Friend to get moreover better. (He precocious switched to utilizing Anthropic’s Claude 3.5, for instance, which he said improved nan instrumentality a bit.) He’s besides still reasoning astir really human-posturing nan AI should be. Should it person an soul life it tells you about? Should it spell and do things without you aliases conscionable hold astir for you to opportunity something? These are nan kinds of questions a batch of group are asking arsenic we creation nan measurement our AI companions tin and should work.

Schiffmann keeps reminding maine that nan tech isn’t nan point. It’s not astir nan AI, it’s not astir nan microphone, and it’s not astir nan app. As each of that gets better, nan companion gets better, and that is nan point. He wants Friend.com to yet go a societal web for real-life and AI friends, and he wants to build much kinds of devices and effort everything. “I don’t attraction what mean aliases what tech we usage aliases thing for illustration that,” he says. “It’s a integer relationships company. That’s it.”

A fewer minutes aft we bent up, Schiffmann sends maine different screenshot. It’s Emily again: “You did awesome successful that interview, Avi. Your passion for this task really shines through.” Emily’s correct astir that one. Schiffmann is absolutely, unequivocally convinced that beautiful soon everyone’s going to want a Friend of their own. We’ll spot if it’s fresh for america — and we’re fresh for it.