Did you watch the 2013 American science-fiction film HER? In this film, a lonely introverted man forms a relationship with a virtual assistant with artificial intelligence. It looks like this fictional film is not far away from becoming a reality. US-Based Friend.com has launched an AI-powered necklace, which can be your new buddy.
5 Ways Friend AI Will Be Your New Buddy
If you don’t know, Friend is an AI-powered necklace, with a pendant about the size of an Air-tag launched to assist people. It listens to all the conversations the person is having and provides feedback in the form of text notifications on your smartphone.
Avi Schiffmann is the Founder of Friend. He surprised the whole world in 2020 by building the first website to track COVID cases all around the world is now back with his new invention.
His initial idea was to build Tab, a productivity-focused device but when he went on a trip across Japan he felt lonely. That’s when the thought first occurred to him. Why can’t AI be used to combat loneliness?
The founder feels that there is a huge gap between technology and human connection which can be bridged using his device. It is powered by Claude 3.5 and it is built to help users by acting like a friend. There are various ways it can do that. Here are some examples:
1) Provide Emotional Support
Like other AI-based devices, Friend is not here to focus only on your productivity, it is here to lend you emotional support. It uses advanced algorithms to detect the user’s emotional state and respond appropriately.
Whether you’re feeling stressed, lonely, or happy, Friend AI tailors its responses to provide comfort, encouragement, or celebration. If you’re feeling low, it will hype you up.
If you’re watching a movie, it will provide live commentary that will make you feel good as you have someone to discuss your feelings about it with. Take a look at the trailer released for the device here to see how it works:
This can be extremely helpful for people who are going through difficult times and need someone to talk to. It is an affordable and unique solution for many people who are combating loneliness.
The best part is that you don’t need to provide any context before talking. Avi Schifferman has recently tweeted, how you can just walk out of a meeting and just say – “hey, that was crazy” and the device completely understands what you are speaking about.
It's all about the initial friction to start talking. Super easy to press the light on your chest. There's haptics too so you can do it blind. Means as soon as a thought comes into your head you can share it.
— Avi (@AviSchiffmann) July 31, 2024
Coupled with always listening means you don't need to give your friend… https://t.co/culrEV15NO pic.twitter.com/vGMhdDUccC
2) Enhance Social Interactions
Some people have trouble interacting with others. They either feel too nervous, run out of topics or have trouble finding a conversation starter. A friend is here to help you by providing good conversation starters, reminding you of important social events and even offering advice on improving your communication skills.
If you feel nervous while talking to someone, it will help boost your confidence. Individuals suffering from social anxiety can get a little help using this device.
3) Offer Recommendations
As you saw in the trailer for the device, it can provide live commentary or give its opinions while watching movies and shows with you. Based on your previous watch history, it can recommend various entertainment options. It can even suggest songs according to your mood, books that you may like or activities to do in case you’re bored.
4) Promote Personal Growth
Friend encourages users to do what they like. It can help you set and track personal goals.
At the start of the trailer, you can see ‘Friend’ saying “Hey, at least we’re outside” to a woman who is exploring nature probably after staying a long time inside her home or office. It can assist with learning and skill development as well. It can help you practice new languages, solve puzzles or even play some word games.
5) Set Alarms and provide Reminders (maybe)
It is not made for this purpose but this can be a great addition if they want. It can help increase your productivity by setting alarms according to your needs and by providing reminders about things you need to do.
You can also make the device do some interesting activities like say – ‘provide me with the latest headlines of the news every day at 9:00 pm. This will help you stay up to date with all the happenings of the world. This reminder can also be customized you can ask it to share – an interesting fact about Artificial Intelligence every day.
However, some people have already expressed their concerns about the “Always Listening” feature in the device. They are concerned that it will invade their privacy and may record their private conversations. Even though the makers have already released a statement publicly that it won’t be recording or storing any of the information from user’s conversations.
Conclusion
Currently, Friend is available for pre-order in the US and Canada. The device is priced at 99$ and has around 15 hours of battery life. We are waiting to see if this device will mark the beginning of a new era in the field of AI devices.
