AI Companion Pendant Shipments Postponed by Friend Startup

Friend, a startup developing an AI-powered necklace, has pushed back its shipment schedule to Q3, citing design refinements.

Well, here’s the scoop: Friend, that plucky little startup with big dreams, has hit a snag. Their much-talked-about AI-powered necklace? Yeah, it’s not making its grand entrance in Q1 as planned. Instead, mark your calendars for Q3. Priced at a cool $99, this gadget aims to be your digital BFF, but hey, good things take time. Avi Schiffman, the brain behind it all (and CEO), dropped an email bomb on customers—turns out, the design’s gotta be 95% in the bag before they even think about manufacturing. Prototype’s supposed to be ready by February’s end, so fingers crossed.

Behind the scenes, Friend’s got an eight-strong engineering squad and a hefty $8.5 million war chest, thanks to some big names like Perplexity’s Aravind Srinivas. They even splurged $1.8 million on Friend.com (because why not?). Before this hardware hustle, they dabbled in AI characters on a web platform—kinda hit or miss, depending on who you ask. Despite the platform holding its own under heavy traffic and offering a peek into the future of digital pals, Schiffman’s all in on hardware now. The chatbot gig? Toast.

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: AI companions. They’re stirring up quite the debate. On one hand, they’re cool tech; on the other, there’s worry they might mess with our heads or make us lonelier. Critics aren’t shy about pointing out the risks—like, what if these digital buddies start churning out not-so-great content? It’s a reminder that as we march into the future, we’ve gotta tread carefully, thinking about how this tech shapes our world.