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One of the strangest products in consumer AI is back — and more expensive. Friend, an AI wearable necklace designed to fight loneliness by talking with you, returned in July 2026 as Friend 2.0, now with a voice and a $249 price tag.
Friend is an AI companion you wear around your neck. It converses with you via text and, now, a built-in speaker — giving the device a consistent personality that talks back. Created by entrepreneur Avi Schiffmann (backed by founders from Solana, Perplexity, and others), it's pitched not as a productivity tool but as companionship.
Schiffmann's framing is unusually bold: Friend is "some kind of confidant, friend, God" — and explicitly "not an assistant, and it is not a lover."
Friend 2.0 costs $249, nearly 2.5x the original $99 launch price from 2024. And the reception has been rocky:
Friend sits at the center of a genuine cultural nerve: is an AI companion a comfort for the lonely — or a symptom of the problem?
Whatever you think of Friend, it raises real questions every brand in AI should sit with:
Friend 2.0 is a fascinating, divisive experiment at the edge of consumer AI. Its struggles underline a truth the hype often skips: people don't adopt AI just because it's impressive — they adopt it when it genuinely fits their lives (and don't when it feels like a replacement for something human).
Brandomize helps brands use AI where it truly adds value for real people — not novelty for its own sake. If you want AI that customers actually welcome, that's the line we help you walk.
We help founders, brands, and local businesses turn modern tech into measurable revenue and standout brand identity.
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