The Failed Wearable AI Experiment
Friend AI’s journey from an ambitious wearable device to just another chatbot tells a familiar story in the tech world. The startup, founded by Avi Schiffmann, initially positioned itself as a solution to the loneliness crisis with a screenless, audio-free pendant that would text users when it was time to interact. The concept was bold—creating an AI friend rather than just another assistant.
But the reality proved much different. Despite raising close to $8 million from notable investors including Austin Rief of Morning Brew and Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana, the company struggled to find its footing. The spending was substantial—$1.8 million for the domain Friend.com, $250,000 on a YouTube commercial, and millions more on subway and bus advertisements in major cities.
The Numbers Tell the Story
According to Schiffmann’s own metrics, only about 1,000 units of the $130 wearable were sold. That translates to roughly $150,000 in revenue against nearly $8 million in funding. The math simply doesn’t work, and the company faced the same fate as Humane Inc.’s AI pin—a product that promised much but delivered little in terms of market success.
I think what’s interesting here is how quickly the company had to pivot. When you’re burning through millions in ad spend and only generating a fraction of that in sales, something has to change. The dystopian advertisements, which were often immediately vandalized with anti-AI messages, failed to convince people that a $130 gadget could solve their loneliness problems.
The Pivot to Chatbot
So now Friend AI has become what it probably should have been from the start—a free-to-use chatbot accessible through their website. The wearable necklace concept has been essentially abandoned in favor of a more traditional approach. Schiffmann hopes this new version will lead people to desire a constant AI companion, though one has to wonder if the market really wants this.
The initial version of Friend AI was described as incredibly manipulative, which raises questions about the ethics of creating AI that pretends to be human friendship. There’s something unsettling about technology designed to exploit human loneliness for profit.
Redefining Friendship
What’s particularly telling is how the company’s definition of friendship has evolved. Initially, their ads defined a friend as “someone who listens, responds, and supports you.” Now, according to Schiffmann, a Friend is simply anyone you’ve ever interacted with, even just once. This feels like a desperate attempt to broaden the potential user base rather than a thoughtful consideration of what meaningful human connection actually involves.
Despite the poor performance and negative reviews from publications like Wired and tech influencers, Schiffmann continues to receive support from Silicon Valley elites. It’s a pattern we’ve seen before—visionary founders getting celebrated for pushing bold ideas regardless of their practical success or failure.
Perhaps the most telling part of this story is the expectation that Schiffmann will have no problem raising money for his next project, even if this one fails completely. The tech world seems willing to forgive failure as long as the narrative remains compelling. But for now, Friend AI joins the growing list of AI products that promised to revolutionize human interaction but ended up as just another chatbot.
