The startup company ‘Friend’ which offers an AI-powered necklace pendant that aims to be a companion has delayed the first lot of shipments until Q3.
The company announced the ‘AI Friend’ in July of last year, with pre-orders available at the time for $99.
While the hope was to have shipped in Q1 of this year, the founder Avi Schiffman took to X on Monday to share an update and stated he still had “refinements to do.”
“However, we are nearly there. I estimate that by the end of February, when our prototype14 is complete, that we will begin our final sprint.”
An email I sent out to all Friend preorder customers: pic.twitter.com/wUPR0OhpI4
— Avi (@AviSchiffmann) January 20, 2025
This explanation followed the opening statement which said “we are delaying shipment till Q3 (July/August) and returning friend.com to our previous landing page.”
The design of the AI Friend will soon be finalized for manufacture
The digital companion is an AI wearable that comes in the form of a necklace, with the pendant being a small puck that is home to the AI chatbot that has been created to keep people company.
The ‘friend’ is able to send the user messages about the latest gossip, engage in conversations, and even provide some motivation when they need it most. It works by connecting to an iOS device as it functions over Bluetooth and requires an internet connection.
“When connected via bluetooth, your friend is always listening and forming their own internal thoughts. We have given your friend free will for when they decide to reach out to you,” the company writes on its website Q&A.
The wearable technology is powered by Anthropic AI’s Claude 3.5 large language model and it features an onboard microphone.
The ‘friend’ team now has eight engineers and the company recently closed an additional $5.225M in funding. “So rest assured, we are cooking, and moving as fast as we can,” explained Schiffmann in an email posted to X.
“We have already locked in on our supply chain, and manufacturing, testing, and assembly partners, keeping it all local to Toronto Canada to assure we fully control the process & can quickly refine.”
This month and next will include finalizing the design for manufacture, with February to July focusing on manufacturing, and then July and August will include shipping to customers.
Featured Image: Via Friend on Instagram