Friend is already making enemies. The weird, AI-fueled cure-all-for-loneliness hardware that debuted earlier this week has been around less than three days and already it’s being accused of being a total rip-off of another product.
Friend is a $99 necklace that records everything you do and then uses AI to generate conversational texts about your activities, which are then sent to your phone. It was launched by Avi Schiffmann, a young developer who has gained some renown for his unconventional projects. Schiffmann announced the launch of Friend on Tuesday, publishing a highly produced advertisement to X to showcase the virtual companion’s capabilities.
On Thursday, a developer named Nik Schevchenko posted a “diss track” online, in which he claimed that Schiffmann had ripped off his product, which is also an AI necklace called “Friend.” The video, posted to X, is a rap in which Schevchenko addresses Schiffman and rhymes: “I’m the founder, hardware in hand/you’re just a shadow, can’t understand.”
Congrats @AviSchiffmann for launching Friend pic.twitter.com/3Vg2ts0XdS
— Nik Shevchenko (@kodjima33) July 31, 2024
Later, Schevchenko also posted a picture of himself shirtless and challenged Schevchenko to a duel: “IM OFFICIALLY INVITING @AviSchiffmann TO FIGHT WITH ME DO YOU TAKE THE OFFER?”
There seems to be plenty of evidence that Schevchenko is telling the truth. On Schevchenko’s blog, a post, dated June 24th, 2024, says: “I’m excited to announce the launch of my new product: FRIEND. It’s a necklace that transcribes your conversations, gives you summaries and proactive insights.” There are also a number of old YouTube reviews of “Friend AI” that display the product he’s talking about, one of which links to another website, where the developer can be seen explaining the device, which has a similar form factor and functionality to the one Schiffmann launched earlier this week.
When asked about Friend by Gizmodo earlier this week, Schiffmann claimed his device was more of a novelty, describing it as “just an LLM tamagotchi.” The notable feature of Schiffman’s device is that it texts you conversational messages based on what you’re doing, making it more geared towards virtual companionship. Schevchenko’s device, meanwhile, seems to have a heavier emphasis on organizational and productivity benefits.
Gizmodo reached out to both Schiffmann and Schevchenko for comment and will update this story if either responds. When reached for comment by 404 Media, Schiffmann said, of Schevchenko: “I have no relation to Nik.” He added: “Not going to continue to comment on Nik.”
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