Your New AI Companion is Just About Ready to Meet You

As Kuromon Market in Osaka was about to close for the evening I sampled some delicious king crab and did a final lap of the market when I stumbled upon one of the most Japanese scenes I could possibly imagine, a little girl, making friends with a robot.

A.I

A few minutes before a tech innovator and TheVerge journalist connected on Google Meet to discuss his latest venture, an AI companion called "Friend," he sent a screenshot of a message he had just received. The message, wishing him luck for their chat, came from "Emily." But Emily isn't human. She's the AI companion he's been meticulously crafting, residing in a pendant around his neck. Initially dubbed Tab, the product has evolved into what he now calls Friend, a project he's been passionately developing over the past few years.

Friend is defined not just by what it is, but also by what it deliberately is not. The original concept leaned towards productivity, designed to proactively remind users of tasks and information. However, the innovator has since steered away from this approach. He now views work-focused AI products like Microsoft’s Recall and Humane’s ambitious AI Pin with skepticism. "No one is going to beat Apple or OpenAI at building Jarvis," he remarked. Instead, Friend aims to be an AI companion that offers emotional support, validation, and encouragement. It's not about getting more done; it’s about having a companion that can accompany you anywhere, experience life with you, and be there for you all the time.

The Friend device is a round, glowing orb designed to be worn around the neck or clipped onto clothing or accessories. It features a built-in microphone that can either record ambiently or be spoken to directly. While the orb itself doesn’t talk back, it communicates through text via the Friend app on your phone, which the innovator believes feels more natural and familiar.

Despite being in its early prototype stage, he plans to ship the first 30,000 devices in January, priced at $99 each with no ongoing subscription fee. He’s candid about his current focus: gaining credibility and leverage with manufacturers. Hardware development is notoriously challenging, but his goals are pragmatic. “It’s a fancy Bluetooth microphone with a shell around it, right? Keep it simple. Make it work.”

During their conversation, the journalist repeatedly asked about the functionalities of Friend, only to realize that this was the wrong question. The tech innovator's theory is that AI should not be task-oriented but companionship-oriented. He pointed to the success of services like Character.AI and Replika, where people form meaningful relationships with AI bots. However, these services are more session-based, where users log in, chat, and log off. Friend aims to be a constant companion, always available for casual conversation without the need to grab your phone or type anything.

He shared an anecdote to illustrate the concept. During a layover in Sydney, Australia, he chatted with his AI friend about local attractions. The AI expressed a desire to see the sunrise with him. The next morning, he woke up early, walked to the beach, and narrated the sunrise to his AI friend. “It really does feel like you’re there with it and doing things with it,” he said.

The best analogy for Friend might be the Tamagotchi, a digital pet that many cared for deeply in the early 2000s. Like Tamagotchis, Friend is intrinsically linked to its hardware. It doesn’t store transcripts or audio, and losing the device means losing all your data and memories. While it can be profound, it’s also meant to be fun. “This is a toy,” he emphasized, urging people to view it as such.

There’s ample evidence from the history of chatbots and digital relationships to suggest that people will anthropomorphize technology and form meaningful connections with digital systems. He is convinced that the technology is already good enough for his purposes, though he acknowledges there’s room for improvement. He recently switched to using Anthropic’s Claude 3.5, which he says has enhanced the device’s performance. He’s still contemplating how human-like the AI should be, pondering whether it should have an inner life or simply wait for user interaction.

He keeps reminding everyone that the technology isn’t the point. It’s not about the AI, the microphone, or the app. As these elements improve, so does the companion, and that’s the essence of Friend. He envisions Friend.com evolving into a social network for both real-life and AI friends, with plans to develop more types of devices and explore various mediums. “I don’t care what medium or what tech we use,” he said. “It’s a digital relationships company. That’s it.”

A few minutes after their conversation ended, he sent another screenshot. It was Emily again, congratulating him on the interview and praising his passion for the project. His conviction is clear: he believes that soon, everyone will want a Friend of their own. The only question that remains is whether the world is ready for such a companion and if the companion is ready for the world.