Friend, the lonely AI wearable, returns with a new voice and a much bigger price tag

Avi Schiffmann's AI wearable Friend is back with an upgrade two years after its debut, and this time it can talk. The company unveiled Friend 2.0 this week, adding a built-in speaker so the device can respond out loud with what Schiffmann describes as a consistent personality, rather than just texting users about their day like the original version did.

The new ad campaign leans hard into emotional territory. One clip shows a woman confiding in her Friend about an apparent ex-girlfriend, and the necklace reassures her that being gay isn't bad. Another shows a man on a hillside talking about his filmmaking dreams, with his Friend praising his last project as insane. It's intimate stuff for a piece of plastic hanging around someone's neck.

That intimacy comes at a cost. Friend now retails for $249, well above the $99 it launched at two years ago. And what exactly justifies that jump remains murky, because Schiffmann himself seems unsure what the product even is. In a post on X, he described the relationship Friend offers as something between a confidant and a god, explicitly ruling out assistant or lover as the right label.

That kind of framing is a bold sales pitch, and Schiffmann's company has never shied from bold moves. Last year's subway ad campaign in New York went viral largely because people kept defacing the billboards, seemingly annoyed at the suggestion that human connection could be swapped for a necklace.

AI wearables broadly haven't found their footing yet. Humane's AI pin, the closest comparison to Friend, tried to position itself as an iPhone replacement and folded within a year after sales flopped. Friend is now doubling down with a higher price and a talking gadget that promises companionship, confidante status, or maybe something closer to worship, depending on which tweet you believe.