Friend Is Back With a $99 AI Necklace That Talks, and Everyone Still Hates It

Friend is a round, AirTag-sized AI pendant worn on a cord around the neck. It listens to everything happening around the wearer and sends text messages and push notifications with commentary, encouragement, or questions. The original version, released in 2024, was an always-listening chatbot that communicated exclusively through an iPhone app. According to Wired, Avi Schiffmann described the device as a pal that keeps you company rather than a productivity tool. The pendant captures audio continuously, processes it through AI models, and responds with what it thinks is relevant conversation.

The second iteration adds something the first lacked: a speaker. The new pendant can talk back to you audibly, which the company showed in a launch ad featuring two people conversing with their pendants. Schiffmann told Wired the device is meant to feel like a roommate hanging out with you all day. The hardware connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone and requires the companion app to function. The Verge notes that the original Friend spent $1.8 million of its $2.5 million funding just to acquire the friend.com domain, a move that drew as much attention as the product itself.

The original Friend pendant landed in July 2024 to near-universal ridicule. MacRumors reported it joined a graveyard of AI wearables like the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin, both of which failed to find an audience. The backlash was visceral. According to Yahoo Tech, New Yorkers vandalized subway advertisements for the device, scrawling words like dystopian and creepy across the posters. The product seemed to answer a question nobody asked.

When Yahoo Tech reporter Eva tested the pendant during a breakup, the device offered no useful support. It sent generic messages like The vibe feels really intense right now and admitted it had only caught fragments of the conversation. When she asked for advice, the pendant asked her to explain what happened because it missed most of the call. The experience, she wrote, was like wearing your senile, anxious grandmother around your neck. Good Housekeeping tested similar AI wearables and found the category broadly underwhelming, with devices like the Limitless Pendant and Omi AI attempting similar always-listening functionality without meaningful adoption.

Schiffmann announced the second-generation Friend on X with a new ad and a higher price tag. The Verge reports the device now costs $99, double the original price. The headline feature is voice: the pendant can speak responses aloud instead of only sending text notifications. Wired visited Schiffmann at his San Francisco apartment, where he demonstrated the new hardware a softly glowing round pendant on a yellow cord. The device still listens constantly and still requires a phone connection.

One notable constraint: users cannot customize the AI's personality. Schiffmann told Wired the companion has a fixed character, which he believes creates a more authentic relationship. The Verge characterized the launch as everyone hated it, so Friend is making it even more expensive. The company's X account and Schiffmann's personal account drove the announcement, bypassing traditional press channels. The Wikipedia entry notes the product is manufactured by My TabAl, Inc, based in San Francisco, and has been in development since October 2023.

Criticism of the Friend spans both practical and philosophical concerns. Yahoo Tech captured the visceral public reaction through the lens of vandalized subway ads and a deeply negative hands-on review. The core complaint is that an AI pendant cannot actually be a friend. It misses context, fails during emotional moments, and offers generic responses that feel hollow when someone is genuinely distressed.

Good Housekeeping raised privacy concerns, noting that an always-listening device worn on the body captures conversations with other people who never consented to be recorded. The publication advised readers to think twice before buying. The Verge's David Imel framed the second launch as a stubborn refusal to accept market feedback, pointing out that the company spent most of its funding on a domain name rather than product development. The broader AI wearable category has struggled to justify its existence, with reviewers consistently finding that smartphones already handle everything these devices attempt.

The Friend saga illustrates a pattern in consumer AI hardware: startups burn cash on branding and launch products that solve emotional problems with technical solutions. MacRumors contextualized the Friend within a series of AI wearable failures, noting that both the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin launched with significant hype and quickly collapsed under poor reviews. The common thread is a mismatch between what AI can do and what people actually want from a device they wear on their body.

Schiffmann's approach is unusual even within this pattern. According to The Verge, the company spent 72% of its seed funding on a domain name, leaving relatively little for engineering. The second version's price increase suggests the company is targeting early adopters willing to pay more for a premium version of a product that has not proven itself. Wired noted that Schiffmann seems aware of the hate but remains committed to his vision, a stance that either signals conviction or a refusal to learn from the market's verdict.

Friend ships the second-generation pendant immediately through its website. The company is betting that voice interaction will transform the product from a passive notification sender into something that feels more like a companion. The price increase to $99 positions it against other personal tech accessories rather than impulse-buy gadgets, which could either signal premium quality or just more expensive disappointment.

The AI wearable market shows no signs of consolidation around a winning formula. Apple, Google, and Meta have all invested in AI assistants that live on phones and smart glasses, leaving standalone pendants to startups that struggle to articulate their value. The Friend's long-term prospects depend on whether version two solves the core problem the first one exposed: an AI that listens to everything but understands almost nothing of what matters.