The Big Picture: Is this AI wearable Friend or foe?

Does an AI wearable that listens to everything you say sound like a good thing – or kind of creepy?

What if I told you that this wearable would also weigh in on the conversation when you requested its input? And what if it occasionally offered its unsolicited opinion of how your day – or your date – was going? It would do this not by speaking to you, but by sending you texts that you could, presumably, either voraciously inhale or conveniently ignore. Might all these attributes make this device more interesting – or would they make you want to run the other way?

I think the world is going to break into two strongly opposed camps on these questions. One person’s friendly can be another person’s creepy, after all. And not only is creepiness in the eye of the beholder, but so is privacy.

What is this thing?

There’s a new AI wearable in town, and its name is Friend. What is it? Well, as the Friend website states, it's a "wearable Al friend designed to be a close confidant for everyday life." And who among us wouldn't like another close confidant in our lives?

To be clear, Friend is not available yet, but you can pre-order it for $99. And apparently, the devices will start shipping in Q1 of 2025 (which is just five months away). The company is currently stating that there won’t be any subscription fees.

Of course, some of the initial AI wearables haven’t gone too well. Humane’s Ai Pin, which came out at the end of 2023, was one disappointment. Another was the Rabbit R1. The Verge's reviews of the two were titled, "Not even close" and "Nothing to see here."

How will Friend be different? First of all, Friend is not interested in helping your productivity. In fact, it’s only interested in being your…friend. (Is that okay?) For many of us, that would not be okay. But what if it could help some people?

The creepiness factor

For the sake of argument, ignore the privacy concerns for a moment (we'll address them another time), and simply focus on the concerns about creepiness. Many experts – and others – have weighed in to say they’re concerned that devices like this will take away the incentive for some people to make human connections and friendships. And they talk about how sad that would be, etc., etc.

Yes, of course. Who could argue with that? On the other hand, I can’t help thinking about the guy who recently tried to assassinate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. The shooter certainly fit the role of the stereotypical outsider responsible for far too many assassinations and mass shootings: a friendless loner with no truly close family or other meaningful connections. What if he had had an AI friend? Someone he could talk to and get supportive feedback from? Might that have made a difference? I think it’s difficult to argue that it definitively would not have mattered.

And that’s where I think there’s some hope for how these devices might help at least some people. Yes, the perfect solution would be that everyone would somehow get better and then form wonderful, deep human relationships. But we all know that’s not going to happen. And in a country of 340 million, if something like a Friend could help just 1% of us, that would be more than three million people. That could make a difference, don't you think?

Want to know more?

You need to check out Friend’s video ad, which is...really something. It’s had more than 1,500 comments in just three days. And perhaps not surprisingly, almost all these comments have been overwhelmingly negative. So negative, in fact, that if there are two camps battling over the value of this Friend, it’s not looking like 60-40 against, or even 80-20 against. They’re breaking out into something like 95-5.

On the other hand, that’s just online opinion, which – as we all know – does not always represent reality. Those who might really benefit from a Friend might be likely to order one without weighing in online. Of course, once they get the thing, they’ll have to wear it around their neck. I’m guessing that this very public display that you went out and purchased a Friend might be enough to doom sales of the device.

Wired has a great story on Friend. Be sure to check out the video and weigh in with your thoughts below. Is it creepy? Might it be helpful for some? Could it be both?