Meet the 21-year-old Harvard dropout behind Friend, the creepy new AI necklace

Meet the 21-year-old Harvard dropout behind Friend, the creepy new AI necklace

Cameron Quijada

Earlier this week, another product contending for the future of AI companionship made its debut: an eavesdropping necklace called Friend. The device was introduced in a glossy, A24-style promotional video in which fresh-faced Zoomers speak to an AI pendant that provides emotional support, commentary, and playful jabs in the form of canned text messages. "This show is completely underrated," it texts a woman while she's watching a show and eating falafel on her lunch break. Then it texts, "How's the falafel?" The woman is seemingly heartened by this. "It's dank," she tells her necklace, "I could eat one of these every day."

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