Friend 2.0 adds a voice and a $249 price tag—now it might be 'God'

Avi Schiffmann is taking another swing at curing loneliness with a piece of plastic. His AI wearable, Friend, just got a 2.0 overhaul, and the biggest addition is literally a voice. The new version packs a built-in speaker, so instead of just texting you, the pendant now talks to you with what the company calls a unique and consistent personality.

A new commercial shows where this is headed. One clip features a woman processing a breakup—her Friend chimes in with “It’s not bad to be gay.” In another, an aspiring filmmaker gets a pep talk: “That last film you made was insane!” It’s part therapist, part hype-man, and all algorithm.

The upgrade comes with a significant price hike. Friend launched two years ago at $99. The new talking version costs $249. What you actually do with it beyond casual chitchat remains blurry, but Schiffmann offered some philosophical guidance on X. “I am interested in this kind of relationship in attempting to offer, some kind of confidant, friend, God, not really sure what it is,” he said. He then drew a clear line: “But it is not an assistant, and it is not a lover.” Marketing a gadget by floating the idea that it might be a deity is certainly a choice.

Schiffmann’s no stranger to provocative promotion. Last year, Friend’s subway billboards in New York went viral because people kept defacing them—a reaction that seemed to reject the premise of a digitized amulet replacing human connection. The track record for this category is brutal. Humane Inc. tried to dethrone the iPhone with its AI pin and shut down in under a year. Friend 2.0 is betting that a talking necklace with a hint of the divine can succeed where a screen-killer failed.