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FILE PHOTO: A new AI hardware startup now promises to combat loneliness.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A new AI hardware startup now promises to combat loneliness. Founded by a Harvard dropout, Avi Schiffmann, the startup is working on an AI wearable device called Friend that can be worn as a necklace.
The gadget reportedly will connect to your phone via Bluetooth and keep listening to you and act as an AI companion. Users can tap on the walkie talkie button on the hardware and speak into the device. It can also respond to users via its app like a text.
Given that the gadget is around your neck, Schiffmann said that users should find it more accessible than say speaking with an AI chatbot that’s usually on a system.
Priced at $99, the startup said it expects to start shipping products from January 2025 and will start taking preorders for its basic version.
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The company released a promotional clip showing a group of young people doing several activities together has since gone viral on X.
According to a TechCrunch report, the startup has already raised $2.5 million in funding at a $50 million valuation with participation from Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas, founders of blockchain platform Solana, Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, Morning Brew CEO and co-founder Austin Rief and Google senior product manager Logan Kilpatrick.
Last year, Schiffmann had a different venture – a $600 pendant called Tab that tracks people’s activities and transcribes meetings. The device had already received $100,000 worth of preorders.
Earlier this year, Rabbit AI and Humane AI had emerged as two prominent examples in the AI wearables segment but received disappointing reviews for their devices after release.
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